Wings of Freedom
by Keydiam
Summary: (Paused) A new threat has arisen on Valoran. Giant humans, which attack soldiers and civilians alike, even threatening the city states and the League itself. As common combat tactics were failing, the League summoners starting to conjure a spell, which should turn the tides. But the results were different, than they hoped...
1. Prologue

**Introduction **

_Alright, here we go. I call this introduction, because I will write rather much. The picture was made by Nekoakuma-Chan from deviantart. Check her out there!_

_First things first: The first two chapters have many similarities to the first two chapters from my deleted story ‟Corruption Within". That's simply because of the fact, that the deleted one was already heavily inspired by Attack on Titan so I thought I easily could reuse them, this time for a crossover._

_Second: I'll take information only from the 25 anime episodes from Shingeki no Kyojin (Attack on Titan). I haven't (not yet) read the manga or read any spoilers beyond this point (just in case somebody starts pointing out things, which didn't happen during these episodes :P). For anyone else: Spoiler alert in later chapters. (Side note: I'll use the English words like Scout Regiment, Commander and so on)._

_Third: This story contains many original characters, and relationships from my fanfic ‟Forever Strong". I'll try my best to explain everything to you, but reading it first could help. (If you don't want..just accept a Riven x Diana shipping here :P)._

_I guess that's all for now. Have Fun now!_

* * *

**Wings of Freedom**

‟_I have no idea, how we end up being here..._

_but what I know is this: These creatures_

_have killed too many innocent. _

_I'm gonna kill them. They will all...die." _

_-Riven, The Exile_

‟_There we have something in common. _

_I swore myself to purge this world from them..._

_to kill every single one. _

_Humanity hasn't lost yet. We can win." _

_-Eren Yeager, Soldier_

* * *

**Prologue **

**Demacia's Lions **

**Some forest within Demacia's borders...**

‟Run! Come on recruits! I want to hear your battle cry!", a female voice shouted. Her voice overshadowed the loud noise from running boots and hooves.

‟Demacia! Now and forever!", was the loud answer of dozens of young woman and man.

‟And what company?", the female yelled again.

‟Demacia's Lions! For honor and justice!", the whole unit answered loudly.

‟That's the spirit of true soldiers! Come one recruits! We're nearly there!"

Her name was Celadriel Spiritmight. A captain within Demacia's glorious and powerful army, a woman of noble birth, coming from one of the mightiest houses within the city state. It was her birthright to be a leader. A right...but also a great responsibility. People awaited it from her to be an example. It wasn't always easy to fulfill their expectations.

She sat on the back of a giant, armored warhorse. The armor alone would be enough, to supply a smaller village with enough food for a few days. And if that wasn't enough, the horse itself was one of the best horses in all of Demacia. Her parents didn't avoid costs, nor effort for her, when she was promoted captain a few months ago.

Celadriel herself wore a heavy, plate armor in Demacia's main colors gold and blue. It was decorated with mystical symbols, and emblems which showed the crest of her house, as well as the one from Demacia. Some gems were fitted in her gauntlets and shoulder armor. A helmet hung at her belt. It was the armor of the nobles, of generals. Garen, the Might of Demacia, himself wore nearly the same kind of armor. In fact, her armor was inspired by his one.

Her weaponry of choice was unlike many other captains and champions, a big shield, which showed the crest of Demacia, as well as a long sword. Both of them were forged with the same quality like the rest of her armor, and she felt proud of it, to wear such gear.

Her duty nowadays was to train new recruits for the army. This task reached from simple stamina training, to combat experience as well as tactic and building up a camp. It was a tough task, leading a group of completely different individuals and form them into one unit. But, well, it was better than watching over the walls, patrolling the streets or anything like this.

Celadriel pressed her feet against the sides of her horse, and rode alongside the long line of running recruits beside her. She stroke a strand of blonde hair out of her face, and looked to her side. All of the recruits wore backpacks, as well as their standard military issue armor. They were all armed in some way, even though they weren't really trained with them, only the basics. Most of them looked rather exhausted. No wonder, as they were running for nearly an hour.

Their task was to bring some supplies to a forward camp in some forest. Nothing serious here, only a regular training operation within the city states borders. She heard that some members of the Vanguard participated in this operation. The best of the best. She felt somehow proud, that her unit was chosen to bring them the supplies. It was usual that new recruit units were chosen for this kind of missions, as a trainings measure. 'So, I do my job well enough', she thought with a short grin.

After a short while of running, they spotted the first signs of Demacia's presence in this forest. A Demacian standard, rammed into the earth. Wind and weather had left their marks, as the colors were bleached out. They were close to the forward outpost.

‟Alright everyone stop!", she shouted and the recruits immediately stopped. Some breathed heavily, and took a few deep breaths. ‟Back in formation. I want a perfect march formation, when we walk in the camp. Let's show them the best recruits of Demacia."

While the recruits tried their best to get in a formation, she rode at the forefront of the whole unit. She heard some insults, and curses against each other as they organized themselves. But unlike others, they were actually pretty fast, even though they didn't have much training in this kind of stuff. 'They will be fine soldiers later on', Celadriel thought.

‟Alright. Let's move!", she ordered loudly. The sound of marching boots filled the air again.

After a couple of minutes they reached yet another banner. But this one was newer, and trampled into the ground. She looked closer at it, and believed to see something red on it. 'Blood?', she thought confused.

The captain looked around, one hand wandering to her sword. This position was one outpost, normally some scouts would await them here. But nothing was to see. Only the sound of birds and other forest creatures filled the air. ‟Everybody stay ready!", she ordered loudly, and moved on. As the recruits passed the banner, she could hear them, talking quietly with each other.

'Well..could be just a training or a wild animal..', she thought and tried to calm down herself. Even though the feeling in her gut, told her otherwise. And during the last months, she learned to listen to it.

Her feeling was right. When her unit stepped out of the forest on a big clearing, the main place of the camp, there wasn't any doubt that something wasn't right. What she saw, sent a shiver down her spine.

The first thing they noticed, was that the small palisade which normally protected the camp from smaller forest creatures, was severely damaged. Some parts of it lay scattered around the camp, like a giant creature broke through. 'What kind of being could do something like this?', Celadriel thought for a moment.

Carefully they stepped into the main camp and looked around. It looked like a battle took place here. Nearly all tents were destroyed. Weapons and armor lay around on the ground, like someone just threw them there. Some breastplates even looked very deformed, like someone hammered on them a dozens of times. The few canons of the camp were destroyed too, even though on a closer inspection Celadriel saw that one of them was loaded.

Celadriel even spotted something which looked like a severed arm, as well as other body parts. She heard how some of the recruits made choking noises. She even heard the disgusting sound, as some of them just vomited on the ground. Her own stomach grumbled slightly. What she wondered somehow was that she didn't see any dead _complete_ bodies at all.

‟What the fuck happened here?"

‟I heard the Vanguard was here too..."

‟Let's get away from here..."

Their voices were filled with fear, and she couldn't blame them. Nevertheless...she felt something like a need, to stay in this destroyed camp and search for information. 'If we can find something out..maybe we get rewarded...and it's our duty as soldiers', she thought.

‟Alright recruits. I know what you're feeling right now, but we can't just leave this place like this. I want guards at every gate, the others of you inspect the whole camp. Maybe we find some evidence, whoever did this whole thing. If you find something, inform me immediately. Let's go recruits!" Celadriel ordered in a calm tone. Some of the recruits grumbled quietly. They weren't really happy about her choice, but they followed orders.

Celadriel got down from her warhorse, and stoke over his nostrils. It neighed and seemed to be...nervous in some form. She pointed at some recruit. ‟Take care of my horse", she ordered him. He saluted and walked to her.

The rest of the unit started to split up. They put down their backpacks, and started to organize themselves. Some walked to the gates, holding their weapons tight while others started to search the camp for some evidence. Most of them looked kinda stressed, their faces were pale. A tension lay in the air. The sun shone down on them, nearly laughing mockingly.

Celadriel turned around and walked straight to the remains of a blue tent, from which she knew that it was for commanders. She pulled away most of the blue cloth, and looked over the remains of the furniture. Bed, table, chairs..everything was broken. On the ground laid a giant two handed sword, most likely the weapon of the commander. 'What happened to them?'

She searched the whole area, hoping to find some sort of logbook, diary. She was lucky. After a short moment of searching, she found a strangely wet, and severely damaged book under the bed. The captain opened it, and skimmed through the sides to the end of it and started to read the short entries.

* * *

_Day 3_

_We've finally set up camp in the forest. Today we ended the palisade, and the last tents. The mood is good, everyone is fine. The Vanguard soldiers are tough guys. Even though they're the elite, they didn't mind to getting their hands dirty when building up the palisade. I sent out scouts, searching the surroundings of our area. Standard training measure. _

_Day 4 _

_The scouts didn't come back yesterday. I sent out another group, searching for them. My guess is that they were attacked by an animal or something like this. Raining today. Unusual weather for this season, very changeable. Still, moral is good. We're preparing for combat training for tomorrow. _

_Day 5 _

_The other group didn't return either. Guards told me they saw some yellow lights during night shift. Some people got nervous. Delayed combat training. Send out a unit with a report for command in Demacia. They should be there by tomorrow. _

_Day 6 _

_If they report didn't reach Demacia, the recruit unit will come tomorrow, bringing us new supplies. _

_This thing is getting out of hand. I lost a whole unit, while they patrolled the areas around us. Guards told me about a strange noises, and I don't have any idea what is going on. In this area shouldn't be anything which could wipe out entire units. _

_Day 6 Addition_

_Under attack! Humanoid creatures, bigger than trees! Eating..._

* * *

Celadriel stared at the last entry. It was written hastily and a few drops of blood made the writings nearly unreadable. 'Humanoid creatures? What the hell was going here?', she thought and took the book with her.

Somehow she felt a shiver, which ran down her spine. It felt like someone..._something..._was watching her. She turned around, one hand on her sword. There was nothing, only recruit,s which searched through the remains of the camp.

She swallowed hard. Somewhere deep within her, she felt the urge to...run away. 'Why the hell are we still here?', she thought for a moment. She clenched her fists, which shook slightly. 'Control yourself! You're captain...stay focused.'

Then everything broke apart. A yellow lightning just stroke in the middle of the camp. Even though she wasn't a magician, Celadriel still felt some form of magic in the air. But, what appeared after the dust slowly vanished let her heart stop.

The creature which stood there was about fifteen meter high. The thing looked like a giant human, at least his body did. It looked like a male nude human, even though without any sexual organs. As he slowly raised his head, he let out something like a roar. His mouth was far too big in comparison to his face, distorted in a giant grin showing his teeth.

He looked around for a moment, like he didn't know where he was. Celadriel slowly grabbed her sword, even though her hand trembled. Then he started to move, his movement was surprisingly agile and fast. He grabbed one of her recruits, squeezing him between his fingers. The young soldier screamed in pain.

‟ATTACK! KILL IT!", Celadriel yelled, and drew her sword. She didn't have any idea how they were supposed to kill this thing, but she wouldn't watch how her recruits die. She charged at him, her sword above her head. With one swift move, she sliced over his heel. The more courageous recruits, attacked as well. Slicing over his feet, heels and as far as they could over his legs.

The creature looked down on them, and like he was annoyed kicked a few recruits away. They screamed as they hit trees, and the remains of the palisade. Celadriel looked at her sword. The blood of this giant started to...disappear? She looked at the wounds, they did to him. The skin already started to regenerate itself, closing any kind of open skin. 'What the fuck?', she thought.

‟Ahhh! Help me!", the recruit screamed in fear, and tried to get out of the hand.

The time seemed to slow down for Celadriel, as she just watched. The giant opened his mouth. His hand moved closer to it, putting the upper body of the recruit between his teeth. His screams echoed in her head. Then...the mouth closed.

Celadriel felt drops of warm blood touching her face. Filled with an unknown horror, she saw how the legs and lower body of the recruit hit the ground. She still heard the disgusting noise, as the bones were splintered, in her head. But what she feared far more, was the noise which came out of the forest.

Slowly she turned around, her eyes widened. More of theses giants stepped on the clearing. Some smaller about five meters, others nearly as big as the giant in the middle of the camp. They all looked like disfigured, nude male humans. Some with giant mouths, some with too long arms, others with giant eyes and ears.

There it was. A feeling, she had never experienced before. Fear. Primal fear. She forgot about everything, about her status, about her responsibility. All she wanted was...to get away from here as far as she could. She heard how she screamed, her voice filled with panic: ‟Run! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! Back to Demacia!"

The recruits just started to run in every possible direction, dropping their weapons and armor. But it was a useless attempt. Celadriel saw how the creatures just grabbed them, crushed them under their giant feet so only a bloody, red puddle was left. Some were thrown through the air, dying as they hit the ground.

Her own legs didn't move. She just stood there, watching the horror around her. 'Why...can't I move?', she thought, and her sword slipped out of her hands. Her legs didn't carry her anymore, and she fell down onto her knees. 'Why...am I just...watching?'

‟No! NO! I don't want to die! Leave me!"

‟Let met go! DON'T! NO!"

‟Please not! Please..please! No...no...DADDY!"

The frightened screams of her recruits rang in her ears. She heard the disgusting sound as their flesh were ripped from their bones. She heard the sound of cracking bones. For a short moment, she wondered how they were able to sneak up on them, as big as they were...they should have spotted them earlier.

She felt tears which ran down her cheeks. Her mind wasn't able to handle it anymore. She was responsible for this. It was her fault. Why did she order them to stay here? They should have run away, when even the Vanguard got wiped out...how could a unit of recruits handle something like this? Now...all of them were dead. She looked up in the blue sky. 'Sorry...', she thought, before she heard footsteps, and looked up.

The giant creature slowly came closer to her. Step by step. She couldn't move. His two arms just grabbed her, and lift her in the air. For a short moment, she hung over his mouth. She still saw the blood on his teeth. Her mind was surprisingly empty. All what she thought, was why she couldn't move. Then the creature dropped her.

The last thing she remembered was herself, screaming loudly in fear. Then everything turned black.

* * *

_Somewhere else..._

_The young boy felt how tears ran down his cheeks. ‟The Titans will eat us all." He heard a man who said these words. 'It's over?', he thought, and his mind was flushed by images from his past. He saw his mother, his father, his adopted sister. 'I'll never be able to go home again...' _

_His sadness was replaced by another feeling. Anger. Hatred. ‟Why...?", he said quietly. ‟Why was I so immature and argued until the very end?!" An image of his mother flashed his mind. How she wiped away the dirt from his face, her warm smile. ‟Mom is gone..." He saw the damn Titan who ate her. His giant grin. He remembered the disgusting sound, as he put her in his mouth, splitting her into two pieces. ‟She's gone!...Why?" _

_'Because you're weak..', a man said in his head. He knew him for long. He was a soldier of the Garrison. The one who saved them both, himself and his sister. He felt new anger growing in him._

_'I...us humans are weak...', he thought. 'Because we're weak..we can do nothing but cry?' The boy looked down at his hand. A single tear dropped onto the dirty skin. He clenched his fists and slowly stood up. _

‟_I'll erase their existence from this world..", he said grimly. _

‟_Eren...?", his adopted sister said, her voice sounded worried. _

‟_What's the matter, Eren?", another young boy said. His friend. Together they dreamed, together they wanted to see things nobody had ever seen. He just pushed him to the side, and walked to the bulwark of the ship. He slammed his fists on the wood. _

‟_I'll kill them all", he said, his voice filled with pure hatred. He heard how his friend stepped back slightly as he spotted his face, which would send fear into the heart of a soldier. ‟Not even a single one will be left!" _

‟_Eren..."_


	2. Hunters

**Chapter 1 **

**Hunters**

_Somewhere else..._

‟_That is the third one", the man said. With one fluid movement, he put his swords back to where they belong, into the metallic sheaths, where some extra blades were stored. The grips of them, wandered under his brown jacket. _

‟_Hm...", was the only answer of his commanding officer. His green cape was wet from the constant rain. _

‟_And did our Titan-lover found out anything of interest, regarding this?" _

‟_No. The only thing is, that these events share some similarities with the Colossal Titan." _

_They both went quiet for a moment, and just looked down from the giant tree on which they stood. They heard the sound of three dimensional maneuver gear, which was in use. They typical sound the iron wire did, when it was retracted. _

‟_Levi? Our job is done. We will fall back to the walls." _

‟_If you say so...Erwin." The man grabbed the grips of his gear again, and jumped down._

* * *

Riven awoke with a loud scream. In a second she sat upright in her bed, feeling the sweat which ran down her face. She blinked multiple times, but everything around her stayed dark. She felt how panic built up within her, something soft was over her legs and she felt something else at her side. For a moment she felt like, she was the one within the belly of a giant creature.

She suddenly felt two hands on her shoulders, pushing her back on the pillow, and holding her in place for a moment. She heard a calm voice, which spoke with her, but she couldn't catch what the voice was saying. Something like: ‟Calm down...calm down I am here."

Slowly her eyes started to adjust to the darkness around her. Her head slowly started to realize where she was. She was lying in her bed within the Institute of War. It was utterly dark, but nevertheless she saw a face before her own. Long silver hair, and eyes in the color of the moon looked down on her. The face looked worried.

‟You're alright?", Diana asked quietly, still pushing her into the pillow. Slowly Diana started to massage over her shoulders and arms, trying to calm her down. Riven took a few deep breathes. Her mind was a mess, still trapped within her nightmare.

‟Yes...yes...only a nightmare...", she answered. It sounded like she ran a dozen miles. She felt exhausted, her hands were shaking slightly. 'What the hell..?', she thought. She had many nightmares during her long travels, but none of them was so intense like this one.

‟Again? I guess..it was the same?", Diana asked worried, and slowly let go of her shoulders. Her warm hands slowly wandered over Riven's body, calming her down. She then pushed the blankets away, and slowly got up, leaning against the wall of Riven's room. The first rays of sunshine, which fell in through the only window, shone on her naked body. She looked down at Riven, which rubbed over her eyes.

‟Yes...", she plainly answered, while she collected her mind. She closed her eyes for a moment, but immediately opened them again. She didn't trust the darkness anymore.

‟That's the fifth time, Riven. You should really speak with a summoner or someone in the medical wing about this", Diana said worried, while she got out of the bed and searched for her clothing, which lay everywhere within the room. ‟I don't think it's normal to dream about the same thing over and over again, and always awake with a scream, shaking hands and sweating."

‟Probably...would be better...", Riven replied, and just looked at the ceiling for a moment.

‟You're really pale...", Diana said. ‟You're sure?"

‟Yeah...yeah..just need a short rest...", Riven replied, somehow a bit annoyed. She instantly realized her tone. ‟Eh..sorry...I'm just a bit tired and still not really awake", she added.

‟It's fine", Diana smiled, but returned more serious again. ‟Anyway..I will push you there, if you don't go."

‟Alright...alright. I'll ask Soraka or anyone else in the medical wing...later."

‟Good. Well..no point in sleeping again then. Let's get ready and take a breakfast", Diana said. She walked over to the bed again, giving Riven a short kiss on the lips. ‟And that's for a better start", she added with a smirk. Riven smiled back shortly, then Diana turned around, walking to the bathroom and closing the door behind her.

Riven just stayed there and stared at the ceiling. She felt like a Piltovian train drove over her. She hadn't slept well the whole week, which affected her capabilities on the Fields. She lost every game, and during one battle she nearly fell asleep, when she was summoned.

Like she already had said...the same nightmare, the fifth time. She rubbed over her eyes. 'Again..am I going mad?', she thought, and sighed quietly.

Her nightmare was always the same. She was in some town, surrounded by giant walls made out of solid stone. But, then the things changed. Giants, which looked like nude, male humans, entered the town through a broken gate. They all were deformed, had strange smiling faces, too long arms and so on...and they ate the humans of this town.

She clearly remembered the screams of panicking people, the cannon fire as soldiers tried to fight back...but the dream always ended, that one of these things choked her down. The point at which she awoke, most often with a scream.

'Why am I dreaming about this? And why the hell it ends with my death?', she thought. Her mind was a real mess. But, there was no point in trying to figure something out. It wouldn't change anything.

Riven slowly got up into a sitting position, and rubbed her temples. She looked to her right, where she spotted the clock. Five o'clock in the morning. Far too early, by the League standards. Normal people would still be sleeping well in their beds. '

She looked around in her room, searching for her clothing. Diana had visited her last night, and it ended in well...interesting things. Diana was really creative about having a very 'relaxing' and 'exciting' time. And she slept at least two hours longer than the past days, so it wasn't all bad.

A short smile played upon Riven's lips, while she put on her usual attire and made her hair. She looked in a mirror for a moment. She had dark circles around her eyes, and she could use a haircut. 'Well...in Noxus they would say: You look like hammered shit, Riven', she thought with gallows humor.

She grabbed her sword, the runes emitted a green light as she touched it. Idly her hand wandered over the runes. She felt the magical energy tingling in her fingertips. During the last months she mastered her sword. She could summon it nearly instantly, and was able to hold it up rather long. With a short contented smile, she put the blade on her back.

After a short moment Diana stepped out of the bathroom, fully dressed and prepared. ‟Shall we?", she asked amused. Riven nodded.

While they walked through the Institute, they met rather many persons mostly summoners. A few of them were armed with swords, and wore breastplates and shoulder armor to protect themselves. 'Combat summoners', Riven thought. Some of them nodded at her and Diana, when they passed them. She remembered how they fought alongside them back in Ionia six months ago. 'Strange how time passes...', Riven thought for a moment.

Six months of a relatively peaceful. No new threats, no mysterious events. Just the plain everyday life within the League. Fighting, training, and more or less often enjoying a carefree life. During this time, Riven met many new persons and even some Noxian emissaries which talked with her about her visions to create a new, pure Noxus. She wouldn't believe it, but her deeds and fighting earned her new respect within her once homeland. More and more people started to ask High Command, but there weren't enough. 'Not yet', she thought with a short smile. Things started to change.

Riven looked at her side, where Diana walked. She smiled shortly at her. During these peaceful times, their relationship started to grow and blossom even more. It still felt like their first shared night. And of course they couldn't hide it from public interest. Two females, and then champions, in love with each other? That's a rather big news for the papers. Luckily, they didn't get bothered too much because of it.

It was somehow strange to Riven. She didn't have such a life for years, but she already adapted to it rather quickly. Even though the past days...weren't that good. She decided to push away these dark thoughts, and concentrate on the essential for today.

They stepped into the giant hall, took two trays and filled them with something to eat. They searched for a more or less quiet place, a bit farther away from the other persons, Nearly all of them were summoners, most armored in some way. They talked quietly with each other.

‟Huh...it's strange, isn't it?", Diana asked quietly. She took a nip from her cup.

‟What do you mean?", Riven asked confused.

‟The whole thing here...you saw the whole summoners, didn't you? Why are there so many of them? And why are they here in the first place?", Diana continued. Her voice suspicious.

Now that Riven thought about it, she was somehow right. The League seemed to be far too busy, during this daytime. The General and leader of the combat summoners, General Sky had told her that their unit didn't interfere much in everyday life in the League. They trained and lived in a more secret place within the Institute, shut down for normal champions and summoners.

‟You've got a point...did something happen?" Riven looked over her shoulder and spotted some summoners, which looked at them. One of these summoners shook his head, like he overheard their conversation. 'He must have used magic..', Riven thought and turned around again.

‟Nothing I've heard about..", Diana answered calmly. She frowned slightly. Riven looked back and the summoner shook his head again, like he wanted to say that they shouldn't think about it. ‟Huh...change of topic?", Diana asked, and shrugged with her shoulders.

‟Yeah...we can't figure it out anyway...and I guess they will not tell us", Riven answered. That's the one thing she learned from them. That they didn't talk much, if they ever talk at all. Their whole organization stayed a more or less shady one.

‟So..how was your last match? Didn't have time to ask you that", Riven asked curios, while she finally started to eat. From the corner of her eye, she saw how the summoners returned to talk quietly with each other.

‟Rather interesting. But nothing really special...we more or less wiped the floor with them. Even though this Kassadin guy is a pain in the ass to fight against", Diana replied, and suppressed a yawn. ‟By the way you should probably go back before your match and put on some winter clothes."

‟Why that?", Riven asked.

‟You're fighting on the Howling Abyss today, right?" Riven nodded. ‟The field lies in the Freljord. Some old bridge from what I've heard", Diana answered.

‟Oh, nice. Maybe I don't fall asleep again", Riven grumbled quietly. She grabbed her cup, and drank out of it. It was something strong, something that helped her waking up. ‟I heard you had a conversation with some Solari?"

‟Yeah...not really a nice talk", Diana answered, grumbling.

‟A summoner told me. He said the people there were lucky, that enough summoners were around to stop you from killing them and vice versa", Riven replied amused. Diana grimaced.

‟I thought maybe after all this time, they started to change their minds. A slight glimpse of hope grew inside me...but it was destroyed with the very first word they spoke. They just...wanted to make some things clear, that they didn't tolerate my efforts in spreading the 'false faith'...", Diana explained rather calmly. She sighed. ‟Well, guess can't blame them after destroying their temple."

‟But they tried to kill you, just because you told the truth. Something I still hardly believe...", Riven replied. Just like herself Diana wasn't idle during the last months. In fact, she found several people who showed great interest in her faith. Something the Solari elders didn't tolerate.

‟Well..it's religion after all. I guess that's a thing most Noxians don't really believe in hm?" Diana winked at her, and Riven just nodded.

‟No..not really. It's more like living and dying for Noxus only. Anyway...", Riven needed to stop for a moment and yawned, before she continued, ‟any plans for today? My match is in the afternoon..so we've got plenty of time left."

‟Not really. We can either take a break in town or a training session in the training room...or I could give you another massage..just like the one from yesterday evening", Diana replied, and grinned at her. Riven blushed slightly. She knew very well what kind of 'massage' Diana had in her head. Not that she wouldn't enjoy that.

‟Eh...guess I'll take the last option", she replied, and rubbed over the back of her head. Diana laughed quietly. There was a short silence between them, before Diana raised her voice again, changing the topic.

‟Heard anything new from Brian? Haven't seen him much around lately."

‟He told me he has night shift during this month. My guess is he is probably at home right now, sleeping...and get woken up by his daughters", Riven answered and laughed quietly. Diana grinned.

Brian Fawkes, former Noxian soldier under Elena's command. He helped them out many times, and has become a good friend to them. After he helped them when escaping Zaun, and explaining everything to the League, the League offered him a job as a guard within the town which lay at the foothills of the Institute. His two daughters were taken out of an Piltovian orphanage, and came here too. Riven felt happy that it turned out so well for him. 'Within the League's reach...guess that's the safest place in the world', she thought.

‟Night shift and then two daughters? Guess that's kind of exhausting..", Diana said amused. ‟Oh, and if we are talking about this stuff. I heard that within Piltover some kind of crazy girl is running amok."

‟Didn't hear anything about that..what's going on there?"

As they continued to talk about everything and anything, a loud noise stopped them. The doors to the giant mess were opened, and a single man stepped in. They both stopped their talking and turned around their heads, to look who came in.

His face was hidden by a helmet, a breastplate protected his chest. Under it he wore the usual summoner attire, and at his side was a sword. General Sky himself. The League's mastermind in military combat and strategics.

‟I need all of my officers immediately in the tactic room", he started without any instruction. He spotted Riven and Diana, while the rest of the hall got emptier. The General walked over to them. ‟Morning...sorry to disrupt you that early...but I need you two right now."

‟Why? What happened?", Diana asked surprised, and looked up at him.

‟I'll explain everything to you once we're in the tactic room. In short, I'm ordered to attempt a special team of excellent fighters and I need you two for this", Sky explained shortly at them. ‟Will you come?"

‟Okay, we're coming immediately", Riven said, and Diana nodded in approval.

‟Very well", Sky simply answered. He turned around and left the hall in a hurry.

After they finished in a hurry, they left the mess hall and walked through the Institute. They met a few other champions, which were awake now, and even some summoners but most of them didn't take any notice. Even though some Demacia champions they met, seemed to be rather nervous. Shortly, Riven spotted Jarvan who discussed with Shyvana and Garen as well as some Demacian summoners.

The tactic room was a rather big hall within the Institute. It was the room in which every great interference of the League was made. The hall was dominated by a giant stone table in the middle of it. A giant map of Valoran laid on it. Every mountain, every village, every town was drawn in. Around the table were many chairs. Riven spotted many shelves on the walls filled with everything needed to plan a campaign.

The room itself had giant windows in the ceiling, and daylight flooded in. A few magical lights supported in lightening the room. Sky already awaited them, standing before one of the chairs at the table. ‟Alright. Everyone here? Sit down", he said loudly.

Riven and Diana sat down, close to Sky and looked over the other people. Most of them were other combat summoners, everyone with signs and symbols on their armor most likely their rank or something like this.

‟Quinn? It's up to you now", Sky said and sat down.

Another person stood up, a woman. Brown hair surrounded her face with amber-colored eyes. She wore a blueish, golden piece of light Demacian armor as well as something which looked like a short cloak, made out of feathers. A short sword hung at her belt, together with a quiver and a small crossbow.

But the most impressive thing was the giant bird behind her. A giant eagle, with blue feather, which somehow seemed to be...intelligent in some way. Or at least it looked like this to Riven. 'Quinn and Valor..', she thought. She felt something like distrust towards Quinn. Was it because she was an Demacian? Most likely. 'Some things never change', she thought, before Quinn raised her voice.

‟Thank you, General. Well let's make it short as we don't have much time. During the last five days, we lost dozens of patrols as well as a complete unit of recruits and even some soldiers of the Vanguard. This was here in this forest...", Quinn pointed at the map. Sky snipped with his fingers, and the map changed. It was like it zoomed in to the point, at which Quinn pointed and now showed a more detailed map of the area.

‟Prince Jarvan sent Valor and me in this area to do some research as some of our city states summoners spoke about strange magical contortions. All what we found was an abandoned and utterly destroyed camp within the area. Traces of a fight were also there"; Quinn continued in a calm tone. ‟All what I found was...well...a severed arm of a human, as well as a diary entry speaking about some kind of 'giant humans'. No other bodies of any kind where to find. "

‟We can say for sure", Sky started, and nodded thankfully at Quinn, ‟that our enemy is most likely from the Void or some kind of Undead from the Shadow Isles. Anyway we need to investigate it. As Demacia's own troop aren't fit in this kind of operation all of us in the room will assist them. Quinn? You will be our lead."

Riven saw how Diana shortly looked at her for a moment. Riven swallowed down her nausea. Somehow Quinn's report sounded _far_ too familiar to her nightmares about creatures eating humans and so on. 'What the fuck is going on?', she thought, but continued to listen.

‟Understand. How do we travel?", Quinn asked.

‟By horse. We can't risk anything. The magical contortions could disrupt any teleportation spell or even worse trap us in the void between the worlds. Any questions?", Sky asked in the round.

‟When do we leave?", Riven asked calmly. 'Huh...now I help out Noxus greatest enemy...strange things happening', she thought somehow sarcastically.

‟Within the hour. Prepare yourself as fast as you can...I wanted Kassadin to come with us, but he isn't available right now. So we handle this without his expertise. Everyone of you fought the void creatures on the fields?", Sky asked.

‟At least once yes", Diana answered with her calm voice.

‟Alright. Everyone is dismissed. See you in one hour before the walls. Everything will be prepared by then." Sky stood up and left the room. Quinn shortly nodded at them both, before leaving as well. Finally, it was Diana and Riven again.

They shortly looked at each other. ‟Well...let's prepare too shall we? Don't worry, I'll be there", Diana said confidently, and smiled. Riven sighed.

‟Yeah...would be cowardly to say no, just because of nightmares", she replied. They both left the room, preparing for their expedition.


	3. Imbalance in Power

**Chapter 2 **

**Imbalance in Power**

Riven pushed herself through the crowd of people, wandering the streets of the town. Her sword by her side, and a backpack filled with everything she might need for an expedition like this on her back. She wore her usual travel outfit, combined with a few light pieces of armor and a brown cape. She didn't wear any kind of armor for a rather long time now. It felt..uncommon.

Even though it was rather early, the city was already filled with people of all kinds. Workers, merchants, as well as guards and so on. Loud noise was to hear out of many taverns, shops and booths. Riven pushed another woman to the side. ‟Sorry..may I?", she said loudly to overcome the noise. During the past six months the city had grown much.

From the once smaller town, was nearly nothing left. The main buildings on the main street, at which she walked, were high with four, five and even more floors, even though not as impressing as Piltover's skyscrapers. The smaller wall, which once protected the city was demolished to make more space for even more houses and shops.

In the far distant Riven spotted the new walls, which were built to protect the city. Not anymore as high as a palisade, but instead extremely high walls made out of solid stone to withstand any siege or attack. And of course to impress any visitors, emissaries and so on. Some guards patrolled on them, but they seemed to be rather bored with nothing to do.

Riven walked through one of the main gates. The short tunnel was lit by some torches, and guards controlled anyone who came in. Some recognized her, and greeted shortly before turning back to their work. She greeted back, and left the loud noisy city.

As she stepped out of the gate, she looked around. Before her was nothing more than the plain steppe and the dusty road. The same road, which she had taken to come here. A few dead trees, bushes. But overall more a steppe, filled with yellow grass. A rather normal sight in this part of Valoran. She heard stories that before the founding of the League this countryside was place of dozens of battles during the Rune Wars. The massive magical warfare destroyed most of the country.

‟Riven! Over here!" She heard Sky's voice and turned around. Close to the gate, she spotted them and walked towards the small unit. All sat on giant horses, each one saddled and ready.

‟Am I late?", Riven asked. She spotted Diana, which already sat on her horse. She shortly smiled at her, before overlooking the rest of their group. Quinn was there, Valor on her arm, as well as a few combat summoners. There were also some regular Demacian soldiers, as well as city guards. All wore some kind of scarf or cape.

‟Just in time. Alright mount up, and let's go. Hope you're all saddle fast. The journey will take a few days, and we won't make much breaks", Sky said amused and mounted up on his own horse.

Riven walked to her own, which was held by a young recruit. ‟How is it called?", she asked him, while she got into the saddle and shortly stroke over the neck of the horse. It snorted quietly, and shook his head a bit.

‟Lionheart. She's one of our best horses...good luck out there!", the recruit said, and quickly got away from them.

‟Forward!", Sky yelled loudly and the troop moved out.

**A few days later...at the border of Demacia**

Riven held tight to the reins, her cape flying behind her, while part of the cloth covered her mouth to protect her from the whirled up dust, from the other horses before her. They had already ridden for a few days, and just like Sky said they didn't take much breaks.

Their surroundings changed during the last day. From boring wasteland, to green wide grassland and small hills. Here and there was a small forest. And in the far distant they could see the giant mountains of 'The Great Barrier' as well as Mount Targon. Riven was impressed every time, when she was in this region even though the last times, she didn't pay much attention to anything. Broken and without a goal, she just had wandered this country.

Somehow...being out here, riding on the back of a horse surrounded by soldiers, friends and her beloved one let her calm down. During the short breaks they took, she slept rather well. 'Maybe I'm just not fit for an everyday life...', she thought amused. Even though their mission was grim, she found some positive effects.

Riven looked to her right, where Diana rode. Her long, silver hair flew behind her. She shortly smiled at Riven, and touched her hand, as she came a bit closer before covering her mouth again with a blue scarf.

The whole unit rode in a long, loose line with four smaller groups in every direction of the main unit. Scout units who would inform them in case of an emergency or some strange things they spotted. They rode on the fastest horses of the entire unit. Just in case.

They all heard Sky's loud voice, which drowned the noise of the dozens of hooves. ‟We're passing the Demacian border right now!"

Demacia's natural border in the west direction was a river. In the far north it entered the Serpentine River, closely to the giant mountain on which Summoner's Rift was. But here in the south, the river was rather small and easily negotiable by foot and horse.

The water sparkled brightly in the rising morning sun. The sky was clear blue, only a few clouds were to see. It would be a really nice day, and if this mission wouldn't be they could really enjoy it. Water sprayed upwards, as the horses trot through the river.

‟Welcome in Demacia!", Quinn shouted loudly, and the Demacian soldiers cheered up, shouting the Demacian motto.

‟Demacia! Now and forever!"

‟Hey, Valor! Eyes in the sky now!" The giant eagle sat on Quinn's shoulders. He spread his wings, and let out a loud scream. Then, with powerful beats of his wings, he flew in the sky high above them quickly becoming smaller. Riven followed the giant eagle, until he was only a small dot in the sky.

She lowered her head again, and looked around. She looked to her left side, which would be south on a compass, and spotted something like a small settlement in the distance. A few moving dots passed it, their scouts in the south. She blinked a few times. One of them was coming closer to the main formation, riding at full gallop.

‟Scout is coming from the south!", she said loudly.

‟Understood", Sky shouted back, and turned around his head. After a few moments the female soldier reached the main formation.

‟General! South scout reporting in!"

‟What's the matter private?", Sky asked calmly.

‟The settlement we just passed was destroyed. We didn't see any dead bodies at all. Our combat summoner sensed some magical contortions", the scout answered. ‟What is your order?"

‟That can't be! The forest in which our units disappeared are three hours away from here. We're too far in the south", Quinn replied confused.

‟I would say we check it out. To be sure...", Diana said calmly. Her voice was a bit muffled, due to her blue scarf.

‟Yeah...", Sky nodded slowly. ‟Alright! Listen up! We check the settlement in the south of us! Everyone follows the scout!" Sky raised one of his hands, and mumbled something. A short flash of blue light illuminated the sky, informing their other scouts about the change of course.

The whole unit slowly turned around, riding to the south. As they came closer, Riven spotted that the small wall, which surrounded the village, was torn down at several points. Stones were lying around everywhere, some crushed through the walls of the buildings behind it. It looked like a giant of some sort broke through. She spotted some Demacian flag, trampled into the earth.

The small town was surrounded by large fields and several farms in the distance. All in all nothing really special about it.

The village itself, even though heavily destroyed, was a typical one within Demacia. Most buildings were half-timbered houses, the usual design for villages or poorer quarters, even though it still had the Demacian influences. Most buildings were painted in bright colors, reaching from white to blue, and the main streets were made out of stone and sometimes even marble. Riven spotted here and there a red color. 'Blood?', she thought.

Their unit slowly passed the main gate, which was in the same condition like the walls. The hooves of their horses, made a somehow inappropriate loud noise on the street. Now, that they were within the village's walls, the damage was clearer to see. Several buildings were completely destroyed, while others looked like a canon ball or catapult stone hit the higher floors. Roof shingles, weaponry, glass from windows. Everything lay around on the street.

‟It's too quiet...", Diana mumbled, and Riven nodded in approval. Nobody was around. The only noise was that of the hooves, and the clinking of armor.

After a short moment, they reached the main square of the village. The giant fountain in the middle of it was completely destroyed. Somehow...Riven felt unpleasant to be here.

‟Alright everyone...we'll check this town for any survivors or any evidence what the hell happened here. I want some people at every gate. The rest check out the buildings around this square", Sky ordered them, with his typical calm tone.

While a few soldiers rode to the gates of the town, securing it, the others got down from their horses and began their work. Some entered the buildings, others looked in the side streets. Riven got down from her horse as well, and looked around. Just as she wanted to say something, they heard the loud yell of a soldier.

‟What the hell is THAT?!"

Riven immediately ran into the direction, followed by Diana, Quinn and Sky. Just as they turned around into a side street, they spotted it. Closer to a wall of a house was some sort of...yellowish-orange like substance, which distantly reminded Riven of amber..in a disgusting, horrific way.

Within this substance were people. Or at least...the remains of people. Nearly all of them were disfigured, and some were missing body parts like arms, legs...or even heads. There wasn't any way to identify anyone within this..thing. She heard the sound of more soldiers, which were coming to inspect what happened here. Riven heard how some of them swallowed hard, while others turned around.

‟Everyone put something over your mouth", Sky ordered them. ‟Back to work..I'll check this."

‟What is this?", Diana asked, and walked closer. Her voice was a mix of a disgusted tone and compassion for the dead.

‟Looks like someone just threw something out..", Quinn answered. Her voice was rather calm, but with a slightly uneasy undertone.

‟Sky?" Riven looked to the summoner, which inspected the substance carefully. He knelt down, and looked into this stuff.

‟I...", he began and sighed shortly. ‟I don't have any idea. I've never heard of something like this. Voidborn normally consumes their victims...undead kill them or some zombies eat the brain...but this...it's like someone ripped of their body parts and conserved them in this stuff."

‟So...were searching for something, what nobody had ever seen before?", Quinn said asked, and frowned. Sky simply nodded.

‟Maybe. But it could also be a new kind of Voidborn, which we haven't seen before. A new threat of some kind...it's no wonder why Demacias soldiers couldn't handle it", he explained, and stood up again.

‟Then we should find it, and kill it before it can do more...", Riven started to say.

She was interrupted by a loud noise, like a lightning just hit the ground. Their whole surrounding was colored in a strange yellow color, even the sky darkened for a short moment. A smell like gun powder of sulfur was in the air. Some of the horses neighed loudly, as the sudden loud noise frightened them.

‟What the hell?!", Riven exclaimed loudly.

‟Incoming! We're under attack! Something is coming through the north gate!", a soldier yelled loudly through the whole village.

They didn't hesitate, and ran back to the main square. Riven drew her blade, while she ran and prepared herself for combat. But even before they left the side street, they heard another loud noise. The earth trembled slightly, screams of soldiers were to hear. Some surprised, some fearful.

‟Watch out!" Riven grabbed Quinn at her short cape, and pulled her towards her. A few meters before her, a stone landed. One from the walls.

‟Uah..thanks", she said surprised.

They ran out of the side street, but what they saw was hard to believe. In the middle of the town square stood something giant. In a distant way it resembled a male, nude human, but his face was far too disfigured with a giant mouth, which showed a broad grin. Riven estimated his high on about at least twelve to fifteen meters.

The giant held a soldier in his hand, and without much hesitation put him into his mouth. They heard the fearful screams of him, before they suddenly stopped. Riven clearly saw how the giant thing swallowed him down. Shortly images of her nightmares, flashed in her mind, but she pushed them aside.

‟ATTACK! Our target is here!", Sky ordered loudly and drew his sword in a fluid movement.

Without further hesitation Riven focused on her sword. Green light emitted from the runes, and in a mere second the whole blade was restored to its former glory. Beside her she saw a flash of moonlight, as Diana charged at the creature slicing over his heel.

The creature was surprisingly agile and quick for its height. His foot moved and tried to kick Diana away. Another quick flash of moonlight and she was away again.

‟Careful! This thing is fast!", she shouted.

‟Combat summoner! On my command we attack together! Riven, Quinn, Diana! Distract it for a moment!"

‟No problem!" Quinn drew her crossbow and started to shoot quarrels at the giant, targeting his eyes.

Riven herself gathered runic energy at the sharp side of her blade. She grabbed the hilt with both hands, and with a scream she released a devastating wind slash. ‟Die!" The runic energy wave hit the giant directly at his belly. She clearly cut him, as she saw how blood dripped out of the wound.

The giant roared loudly, and kicked away more soldiers which were sent flying. Diana again engaged him in close combat, using her Lunar Rush to avoid his otherwise deadly stomping and kicking. A quarrel of Quinn's crossbow hit him in the eye. It seemed that it didn't bother him that much, even though he closed his eye.

‟Let's go!", Sky suddenly yelled, and released a magical spell erupting from the tip of his sword. Riven saw how other summoners did the same thing, and the giant creature was hit by lightning, fire, energy and all kinds of magical spells. She released another wind slash, directly targeting his head, before she had to close her eyes due to the bright light of the magic.

After a short moment, she opened her eyes again. She heard some questions. ‟Is it dead?!"

‟I guess so!"

The creature was lying on the ground, and didn't move a bit. His head was lying beside him, decapitated. The rest of his body was burnt, destroyed and slashed open. The strange thing was..as soon as the blood dripped on the ground, it just started to vaporize into nothing. Riven slowly stepped closer, as well as the others did.

‟What the hell is THAT?!", Diana asked, unbelieving.

‟Looks like a giant version of a human", Sky answered nearly sarcastically. ‟But, to be honest..I don't have any idea. Maybe some crazy summoner did some experiments with humans..."

‟Eh..wait..did it JUST MOVED?!", Quinn shouted, and pointed at the fingers of the giant. Riven looked to the side, her face was turning from unbelieving to shock. His finger moved slightly. She saw some burnt parts of his skin, which started to...regenerate itself, like someone would use the healing spell from the Fields on him.

‟That's impossible! NO creature can survive with its head BLOWN off!", Sky shouted.

‟GET AWAY FROM HIM!", Riven screamed in surprise. Where his head used to be, was something like a giant steam cloud. Even though it was hard to see...but it looked like his head was starting to build himself anew. The thing slowly moved more and more, trying to stand up. During his movement, he started to flail around himself, hitting a few soldiers in the process.

‟Holy shit!" In a few moments, the creature stood up again. The steam like thing which coming out from every wound, slowly faded away revealing a complete giant, without any kind of wound. They even already spotted his mouth, even though the rest of his face was still recovering.

‟To the horses! LET'S GET THE HELL OUTTA HERE!", Sky yelled, not in his calm tone like usual. No. It more sounded nearly panicking, unbelieving.

‟General! More of these things coming in from the west! Five to ten meters high!", a scout reported. His voice was filled with pure fear.

‟Fuck this! Everyone we get to Demacia! We stop for no one! Go! Go! GO!"

Riven looked down on her left hand. It was trembling. She clenched it, and crunched her teeth. 'The hell is this?', she thought and closed her eyes for a moment. She felt something, she had never felt before. She knew the word for it, but she didn't want to say it. 'I...am scared...'

‟Riven! Come!" Riven heard Diana's voice and looked up again, opening her eyes. She saw Diana, which already sat in the saddle of her horse, holding the reins of her own one. Riven ran towards her, mounting up in a quick movement.

It wasn't a planned escape. It wasn't something with a formation or anything like this. It was more or less a stampede. They were just running away from here. They passed the gates in full gallop. Riven still held her sword in one hand, in the other the reigns. Diana rode beside her. She looked over her shoulder.

‟They're closing in, Sky!", she shouted. Riven looked over her shoulder as well. A few of these smaller giants, which were still about seven to ten meters high, followed them. Their way of running looked pretty awkward, nevertheless they were coming closer.

‟Go! RUN!", Sky simply yelled back.

Riven felt how sweat ran down her face. This enemy...how are they supposed to fight them?! They decapitated the biggest one, and he just stood up like nothing happened! Not even magic could do anything to him! The summoners..dozens of them used their magic. Not an apprentice..no skilled and trained summoners, prepared for combat.

In the first time of her life...she really felt what 'fear' meant. Her hand shook slightly, her grip around the hilt of her blade weakened and she nearly dropped it. 'An..invincible enemy?', she thought in a mix of fear and unbelief.

She felt a hand on her shoulder, and looked to her side. Diana smiled at her, but Riven clearly saw the terror in her eyes. She would never say it. None of them would. But they were all..frightened.

Riven heard screams behind her, and looked back again. Some of the slower ones, were caught from these giants. They were grabbed from the back of their horses, screaming and struggling to break free. Others were just overrun from the bigger ones. Nothing was left only a red puddle of blood.

‟How far Quinn?!" Riven heard Sky's voice, filled with panic.

‟Too far..we won't make it!" Quinn wasn't in a better condition.

‟Shit!"

More of their rear guard got caught. The disgusting sound as their bones were broken, filled the air, together with inhuman screams of pain.

‟Riven...it's fine...", Diana said. Her voice quivered slightly. Riven looked to her side, she saw tears running down Diana's cheeks.

'It's over...?', she thought. Riven slowly looked over her shoulder again. Her vision was blurry. Did she cry? She didn't notice it until now. Two of these giants were still following them, the others seemed to be feasting on the caught summoners and soldiers. 'I'm dying here...getting eaten?' An image of her nightmare flashed in her mind, how one of these things dropped her into his mouth.

Why was she so terrified? Would she really succumb to her nightmare? She had faced even greater foes. She fought and killed a traitor summoner. Back then, she wasn't so afraid. Why? Why was she trembling now? She knew the answer deep within her. Against Elena her techniques worked. She could hurt, and kill her. Against these giants..nothing seemed to work. No magic, no steel. Nothing. 'We..we can do nothing against them? They..will just eat us all?', she thought.

‟_Never...and I repeat it again...never let your feelings overwhelm you. In the heat of a battle many things can happen. Comrades can die instantly beside you. Your unit can get caught in some deadly magical energy of a summoner. Your unit can get killed due to a canon ball. But you are a commander. You always need to stay cold blooded, and focused on the mission. You are the best of the best...fight and die like it." _

The voice of her drill instructor echoed in her head. She didn't remember the man. But what he taught her back then...these things are burnt in. She would never forget these things. For a moment a flash of her dead comrades came into her mind. Fury Company. They all helped her out, during her battle with the traitor summoner Elena, giving her the power and will she needed to kill her. Their ghostly figures told her one thing..that she should live.

_If you lose, you die. If you win, you live. If you don't fight, you can't win! _

_Live. Just..stay alive and live a happy life! We count on you. _

She didn't remember where or when she heard these things. But it filled her with new willpower. Riven tightened the grip around her blade, and looked up again. She crunched her teeth, and let her horse slow down a bit.

‟Riven!"

She heard Diana's voice, filled with worries about her. But, she wouldn't lose here. And she wouldn't die. She would live, and find a way to fight back. She wasn't quite sure, what exactly she felt right now. One side of her was frightened to death, the other one was angry about herself. She let go of the reins, and wiped away the few tears.

Her whole blade glow in a green light, as she charged the runic energy. She turned her upper body around.

She screamed. A mix of fear and hatred, her voice echoing with power. The wind slash she released, nearly broke her arm and kicked her out of the saddle. The whole area was lit with a green, mystical light. The energy wave hit both of the giants simultaneously. Both of them were decapitated, with a clear strike. They stumbled, and fell to the ground. It would take some time, to regenerate the heads, and even though they could live without them, they couldn't see anything.

‟Riven!", Diana shouted again. The only thing Riven felt was how her blade disappeared into nothing, and then everything turned black.

* * *

_He was screaming again. Screaming to let out his anger, his hatred, everything. He needed to blow off his steam. She watched them both, how they argued with each other. How they got louder, with every spoken word. She didn't feel anger. She knew how he felt. She...has seen it with her own eyes. _

‟_Just continue living like livestock, you worthless piece of shit!" _

_Enough was enough. Without any warning, she punched him in his face, sending him down on the ground. _

‟_Mikasa...", the other young boy said, and looked at her. Confused. Not understanding. _

_They both looked down at the boy, who decided to lay down there. She lowered her fist, and sighed in frustration. She chose her words carefully. _

‟_If Armin is weak..so are you and I. We couldn't even escape the titans or the city by ourselves.." The boy slowly got up again, sitting. He looked up to her, his eyes showed his unbelieving, his sadness. ‟Even the food we eat, is from someone else. There's absolutely no chance that we weaklings can take down even one titan." _

_His face turned angry again, and he looked to the side. He knew, she was right, but he just didn't like this fact. She continued: ‟What's important is to stay alive...just like your mother said." _

_She walked towards him, grabbing one of the breads Armin obtained and shared with them. She knelt down, and pressed the bread against his mouth. ‟Eat. Eat and stay live. I won't let you starve to death." The boy closed his eyes, tears running down his cheek. The shock, the sadness..it was still deep within him, even though he tried to cover it. _

_She knew one thing from this very moment. She would protect him. No matter the cost, no matter under what circumstances..she would be there to protect him, to ensure he stayed alive. He...was the only family she had. She wouldn't lose him. _

_She would never lose him. _


	4. Valoran's Downfall

**Chapter 3 **

**Valoran's Downfall **

**Two months later...**

‟I..I am fine..just..." Diana coughed multiple times, and Riven pushed her gently back onto the pillow.

‟No. You're clearly not fine...just stay here for a while okay?", Riven said calmly, with a short smile. Diana mumbled something, but stayed where she was.

‟Riven? I'll take care of her now...the General asked for you. He needs you immediately on the walls", a voice said behind them. It was Soraka, the Starchild.

The three were in the medical wing of the Institute of War. It was crowded. Summoners, champions, soldiers. Some heavily wounded, others with missing body parts. Moaning, sometimes screaming in pain, and the noise of speaking mixed together. Nobody could really 'rest' here.

‟Alright, Soraka...", Riven replied with a sigh. She shortly moved her head down, and gave Diana a kiss on the lips, which she returned for a moment. ‟Just rest..I'll come back later..and if not...", she whispered, and Diana simply nodded. During one of the last battles, she was hit hard by one of these giants, and kicked against a wall. Luckily, summoners were there and saved her.

‟Yeah...see you in the afterlife then..", Diana replied, with a short smile before leaning back onto the pillows. She looked pretty pale.

Riven slowly turned around and left the medical wing. Her steps were heavy, slow, she nearly shuffled over the ground. Just as she stepped outside, she leaned against a wall, and slowly slipped down. She was completely exhausted. Most of her armor was destroyed, her clothing under it cut open at some points. All in all she looked, like she came straight out of a battlefield. Which was, in some way, right.

She let herself rest for a short moment, even though she knew Sky needed her. 'He can wait a moment..it isn't like that I could make a big difference anymore..', she thought. Her mind started to reconstruct the past two months, and how she..no..how Valoran ended up like this.

She remembered how she awoke within Demacia, after they escaped from the village and due to her effort of fighting these monsters off. Every city state was informed about these things, counter measures were taken and everyone prepared for war. But it was meaningless.

In a mere two months these giant rolled over all of Valoran. Somehow...they started to appear everywhere. They were drawn to human settlements, or to large numbers of people who were gathered. The battles were merciless, the fighting brutal. Riven still remembered the battle in Piltover. A horrific battle and the first major one.

They had crashed through their main defensive line before the city. Whole skyscrapers came down, as these giants crushed into them, buried themselves together with dozens of innocents. Even though...they lost the battle they found out something during it. The weakness of these giants. A small part of their napes. A clear cut, magical spell or cannon ball...and they would die immediately. Not that it was easy, to hit such a small spot when your enemy is about fifteen meters high.

Piltover's civilians were mostly evacuated via ship or zeppelin. Most came to the League, others fled to Demacia. Riven remembered Caitlyn's and Vi's faces. Their faces showed horror, unbelieving, sadness. She hadn't met them, since then they arrived at the League. From the once optimistic Piltovians...was nearly nothing left.

She remembered the battles after Piltover. Second...Zaun. She hated this town. Hated every single person within its borders. But, what she saw when they came to the League..the pitiful rest of them, it was hard to hold up this grudge. Freljord, Ionia, Bilgewater, Bandle City. No city state stood a chance anymore. There were only three states left.

Demacia, Noxus and the League itself. Everything else was destroyed and no man's land. She heard from reports that most of Noxus troops and civilians hid themselves in the dungeon system under the city, while others barricaded themselves within High Commands main building.

Demacia wasn't better. The giant city state was protected by multiple high walls...nearly everyone had fallen except for the last one, which protected its harbor and palace. No reports reached them for about a week already. Some already believed that Demacia had fallen.

She heard the words, which were in the air since then. 'On the brink of extinction...', she thought. It was hopeless. They didn't have the armies or soldiers left to fight back. Their will was broken, their courage shattered.

But, she wouldn't give up. She did this once. Once, after her unit was killed by her own artillery. She had lost her sense, her spirit. She would not lose it again! She took a deep breath, and tightened the grip around her rune sword. She would die standing.

Riven slowly got up from the wall, and started to walk. She raised her head, and crunched her teeth. 'Let's go..one more time..', she thought grimly. She didn't realize her surroundings. She didn't see how summoners ran by, more and more wounded were carried into the League. Her mind was focused to move on.

She stepped out of the League, and started to walk down the giant staircase. She looked to the horizon, beyond the walls surrounding the city. Even from up here, she spotted dozens of these giants which came closer and closer. She saw flashes of magic, and she heard the rather quiet thunder of cannons.

Her view wandered back to the city, which was crowded with refugees from all over Valoran. Too many people in a too small place with a more or less horrible sustenance, even though the summoners of the League tried their best. They even tried to conjure food, but it was a rather complicated spell, and the food didn't taste that good.

She walked through the streets, mostly unnoticed. She tried her best not to hear anything, to look away. But, it was in vain. She heard the cries of children, woman and man alike. She saw their hopeless and fearful faces. It reminded her of her time during the Noxian invasion of Ionia.

Riven got up the long staircase, which led her up to the wall. It was high enough, that these giants couldn't just climb over. Even though the bigger ones, tried it again and again. Soldiers were duty around the clock, cutting off their fingers if they tried it. During these siege they learned something else. During the night these giants started to slowly walk away. They seemed to be inactive, like they would sleep.

That was one of their chances. During the last months they tried to strike back during night. But they were simply too many, too overwhelming during the daytime. It only helped to slow down their advance minimal.

‟There you are, Riven", Sky greeted her. He stood beside a cannon, and looked down the walls. Beside him stood Irelia. She was severely wounded, her armor destroyed. She shortly nodded at Riven, with a rather cold, emotionless expression. Some people said, that after the fall of Placidium, Irelia turned into something dark and grim, only fueled by hatred and anger about the League and the giants. Riven herself felt remorse. She swore to protect Ionia, but she couldn't do that.

‟What is it, Sky?", Riven asked calmly, and looked down the wall as well. Dozens of these giants stood there, trying to reach the battlements. She looked to her right, where she spotted the main gate. Some seemingly more intelligent of these giants, seemed to understand the meaning of this building. They kicked and slammed against the gate, trying to come in. Behind the gate summoners stood, strengthen the gates with magical spells, but it was only a matter of time until they would break through.

‟What I'm telling you now is top...", Sky started, but was interrupted by a fired cannon. Soldiers passed them, carrying cannon balls. Some shouted orders.

‟Top secret? Alright, I'm listening", Riven replied calmly, and looked down again. More of these giants gathered.

‟The League is preparing a magical spell, which should wipe out any of these giants...", Sky explained them. Irelia looked at him with a puzzled face.

‟That's possible?", she asked, and clenched her fist. ‟Because if it is...why didn't they use it...to save Ionia?!" Riven saw that she was shortly before punching the General. Riven looked at Sky, her own expression turned rather cold, as she could understand Irelia.

‟Listen...that's a experiment. They're trying to ban all of these monsters in another dimension, the void between the worlds. But, there's no guarantee that it will work...I and my combat summoners are needed there too. You two will lead the defense of this part of the wall. If they break through the gate...fight. We just need a bit more time", Sky explained. He seemed nervous.

‟You're telling us to die here", Irelia stated coldly. ‟We shall die here, while the League's summoners are trying to save their lazy asses. You're fucking Institute is nothing more than a bunch of cowards." Her voice was that of an embittered woman, who had lost too much.

‟Listen. It was not MY fault, that the League couldn't save Ionia", Sky replied angrily, ‟but you're people are not the only one who have lost something. MY combat summoner fought for days and nights to save people from all over Valoran. I lost comrades which I knew for years, childhood friends..."

‟Tse...", Irelia simply replied, and looked away. Her hovering blades whirled around, and shortly it looked like they would pierce through Sky's chest at any given moment.

‟You just need to buy us some time...", Sky said calmly. ‟If we can conjure the spell we can win the war. But they need my combat summoners and me. They're no others anymore! Most city states ordered their summoners back, when they were attacked, what was completely understandable. But now we're short on magic users."

‟Alright...go fast..", Riven simply said. She tightened the grip around her blade. ‟We will fight until the very end. Hopefully it does work then. I don't like the fact do die in vain."

‟We will make it count." Sky nodded at her, and started to run while ordering his summoners to follow him into the League. Riven stepped to the wall, looking down.

‟Tse..why couldn't they do this stuff earlier on? Before they wiped off Ionia...", Irelia said grimly.

‟Hey...I'm sorry about this, Irelia. I'm sorry that I couldn't be there to defend your country", Riven started, but Irelia just waved.

‟Don't blame yourself because of that. I heard that you were busy fighting elsewhere..", Irelia replied. There she was for a moment. The old Irelia, before she turned grim again. ‟I should have died during the defense of Placidium...but even though my body was severely crushed, injured...I just couldn't die..."

For a moment she looked to the blades which surrounded her. Riven knew about this deep connection with her blades. She sometimes heard the word 'Lich' in combination with Irelia. A statement which was kinda disrespectful, stating that she was some form of undead.

‟Well...whatever, Riven. What shall we do? The gates will not hold very long, when most of the summoners aren't here anymore."

Riven looked around for a moment. It was a long time ago, when she was actually in charge of a unit of soldiers. ‟Huh...we don't have much choice. Get some artillery behind the gates..with enough firepower we may be able to stop them for some time. And evacuate the civilians deeper into the city", she ordered some soldiers. They saluted, and ran down the staircase.

‟That's it? Can we do anything else? Relying on pure firepower didn't work out in the past...", Irelia asked.

‟Well..if I have a say in this matter..", a soldier said, Riven and Irelia looked into his direction.

‟Brian! You're here", Riven said, with a short smile.

‟Yeah..my job is defending the city. Well..no time for a long chit-chat. I have a crazy idea, which might work..but we could as well die. Well, as we don't have anything else to lose", Brian replied amused, with gallows humor.

‟But what about your daughters? The League is preparing something, which might save us..", Riven said worried.

‟They do? That's surprising. Well, my daughters will be fine. The nanny will watch out for them even if I die...", Brian said more serious now. He took a deep breath. ‟Anyway...let me explain this plan..."

**Ten minutes later...**

Riven didn't exactly know why she accepted this crazy idea. Hell, that was far beyond crazy to a whole new level of madness. She pressed her feet against the wall, while holding her sword with both hands. Right now, she was hanging from the main gate, held by a rope which was complicated bound around her whole body, with one main rope at her hips. She was about ten to twelve meters in the air.

She was held by some soldiers who stood on the gate. The plan was idiotic. When these giants crashed through the gate, entering the town, they would be welcomed with artillery fire from dozens of cannons. Then when they were blinded and shortly injured, the soldier above the gate would as fast as they could, drop them closely to their napes. They would cut it out, and getting pulled back up.

It sounded better, then it would be. These beings were surprisingly fast. If they were lucky, they could do this maneuver two or three times. Then the more intelligent ones, would have understood their plan, and catch them before they could get pulled up again. And of course there was the chance, these giants weren't in range anymore. If they passed the gate by only a few meters, that would be it.

'We have about...half a minute or even shorter to drop, cut, and getting pulled back...that's a very small time frame', Riven thought and swallowed. She heard the sound of bending metal, as the giants hit the gate again.

She looked beside her. Irelia, some combat summoners which weren't needed, and some regular soldiers. They all hung from the gate, directly above the small tunnel which led outside. Most of the civilians were already evacuated deeper into the town. Not that it would matter. If they get overrun here, there was absolutely nothing, which could stop these giants.

‟They're breaking through!", a soldier yelled from the cannons.

‟Everyone get ready!", Riven shouted loudly. She felt nervous, and she saw that she wasn't the only one. She summoned her blade with only a short thought of it. Holding it gave her some form of safety.

‟Ready to fire!"

With a loud noise the portcullis was opened. She heard the loud roar of these monsters. Her hands shook slightly. There was a short moment of silence. Then...the first one stepped right into the city. Another one. Most of them were smaller ones, about five to ten meters.

‟Fuck! There's one of these strange ones!" Another one came through. Running. He directly charged at the cannon line. Ignoring everything else in his path. Riven looked down. Six giants were in. They could handle this.

‟OPEN FIRE! ENGAGE!", a soldier by the cannons yelled.

Dozens of cannons were fired at the same time. It rang in Riven's ears because of the loud noise. The runner was stopped, as one cannon ball blasted off his leg. The others trembled, fell on their knees.

‟Let's go!", Irelia shouted, and already jumped away from the walls, falling to the ground. Shortly before she reached the giants nape, she was abruptly stopped. Her hovering blades did the work for her, cutting away the flesh.

‟I'll take the runner! Don't let me fall too deep...I can hit him then!"

‟Alright, Riven! Let's go!", Brian yelled. He was one of the soldiers, who held her rope.

Riven jumped off the wall, and fell down a few meters, before she felt tension on the rope again. The sudden stop, pressed the air out of her lungs. The abrupt stop was the most crucial part. If they were stopped too hard, they could easily break some bones.

‟Alright! Hold me here!", Riven ordered. She clearly saw her target, moving already. Wouldn't be easy, but she only got this one chance. She swung her blade, and with a scream she released a wind slash. The green energy wave directly hit the nape of the giant, cutting his flesh away. He nearly died instantly, and dropped to the ground.

She looked around. All of the six intruders were dead, and started to vaporize. It was somehow strange. When they cut off the flesh from their napes, they started to disappear rather quickly so that only a skeleton was left behind. They emitted a heat, while doing so.

‟More are coming in!", a soldier reported from the walls.

‟Alright! One more time! Engage on my command! Reload and get ready!", Riven ordered loudly. 'That went surprisingly smoothly..', she thought, and swallowed down her fear, while she was pulled up again.

Again, they did the same maneuver. Starting with cannon fire, jumping down on them, cutting their napes, getting pulled back up. Luckily, there weren't any abnormal ones or strange ones under them this time.

Riven pressed her feet against the wall, getting ready for the third time. Now it was getting crucial. 'The more intelligent one have probably understood our tactic by now..', Riven thought, and crunched her teeth. ‟Prepare for the next engage!"

‟What the hell is that..?! FIRE!", a soldier suddenly yelled. More giants broke through the gate, but this time it wasn't just one of the strange ones. No. They were five of them, heading directly at the cannon line. And they were pretty fast.

‟DROP ME!", Riven shouted in panic.

But, it was too late. Even though some of the cannons fired, only four of them were stopped. One broke through. He kicked away the cannons, like they were nothing more than a plaything, the soldiers who used them were overrun, two got grabbed and thrown away. The remaining soldier fled in terror, and Riven couldn't blame them.

Nevertheless, she was dropped down on the nape of one of these runners who were stopped. She swung her blade, and cut away the flesh in one fluid movement.

‟Riven! Hold on to something! We need to let go of the rope!", someone yelled from up the gate. She instantly grabbed the hair of the giant, she just killed and looked over her shoulder. One of the giants held her rope, obviously trying to figure out what kind of purpose it served.

Riven didn't waste time, and cut of the main rope at her hips. She tried to find something to hold onto, while the giant under her trembled and fell on the ground. She screamed, as she was sent flying as he hit the ground hard. She slipped over the ground on her back, and just stayed there for a second, looking into the sky.

‟The other gate has fallen! Fall back! FALL BACK!", someone screamed.

Riven raised her blade, above her head. It was broken, as she had lost concentration on it. Her body felt unusual calm. She heard the steps of these giants, as they stepped through the main gate. She heard the screams of people, who tried to run away. The thunder of cannons, the feeling of magic as the few summoners tried their best.

'We failed..' But, was there ever a real chance for them? The League's spell obviously didn't work they way they wanted. It was the end of their kind. The end of mankind and all other races of Valoran. But, even though she should feel angry, embittered, fear the end or anything like this...she didn't feel anything of this at all. It felt more like a salvation, the end of the constant struggling and fighting.

'That's the end...', she thought. She laid her blade beside her on the ground. 'Well...I lived a rather good life...' She knew, that Diana thought the same. They both knew it was over. If they die, they would meet again in the afterlife. 'Hey...Fury Company..we'll visit you soon...hope you have a party for us ready', Riven thought with a short smile.

She felt ready for this. She felt ready to die. Riven closed her eyes, a single tear running down her cheek. She just waited for the end.

But, they end didn't come. Instead Riven felt something else. She was prepared for the short moment of pain, when the giant bit on her, choking her down. The short moment, before everything would turn better. But, now she felt some form of magical energy all around her body.

‟What the hell?", she said quietly, and opened her eyes. She was surrounded by a blue light, like someone would summon her on the Fields of Justice. More because of pure instinct than thinking, she grabbed her blade with one hand, holding on to it. She looked around. She wasn't the only one. Soldiers, civilians, champions..and even buildings. All were surrounded by this light or emitted them.

Then, before she could think about anything, she was away.

* * *

_Riven knew where she was. This was the void between the worlds. An empty place, without anything. She felt like she would float, free from any boundaries. 'What happened? Why am I here? Am I still alive?', she thought shortly. _

_She felt alive...but that could be just an illusion. She wasn't sure what to think. _

_But thoughts and meaning were washed away. It was like dreaming. She saw things, she had seen in her nightmares. Giant walls surrounding a country, protecting them from these giants. But, she also saw their great losses. _

_A breach in the wall. A city which was lost. Mankind which needed to fall back to their second wall. A counterattack, which only killed thousands of people. Children who suffered and cried over the death of their parents and relatives. _

_She saw a unit of soldiers, standing in something what looked like a training camp. In a formation, listening to their instructor._

_She saw how the soldiers moved around through the air. They nearly flew like a bird. It seemed the trained for combat, against these giants. Two of them seemed to be special in some way. A boy and a girl. Riven wasn't sure why the thought this. The boy was filled with fury, he had a purpose, he wanted revenge. The girl was a lone wolf. She seemed to be somnolent, when the recruits trained hand to hand combat, like she didn't care about it._

_It was strange. Time seemed to pass faster than it usually did. The sun went up and down, replaced by the moon. The summer came, then the winter, and spring again. _

_Suddenly a blue light surrounded her again. 'What is happening?', she thought, and closed her eyes, before she blacked out again._

* * *

Riven blinked multiple times. She was lying on her belly, her face slightly turned to one side, her hands above her head. In her right she held her broken sword. She felt some sort of rope, which were bound around her whole body in a rather strange way. She didn't have any idea, how she ended up like this, but decided to stand up would be a great idea.

With a quiet moan, she pushed herself up from the ground into a sitting position. It felt like she didn't move her whole body for an eternity, like she would have slept for two days or longer. She rubbed over the back of her head, still confused and without any idea where she was.

After another short moment, her blurry vision slowly turned normal. She was sitting on some street. Slowly she started to remember everything, and where she was. The city before the League, the fighting against these giants. Everything came back in an instant. For a moment she felt panic. The gate was broken, the giants came in.

She jumped back on her feet, only to get punished by her body for this sudden movement. She heard some surprised screams, some even said: ‟I thought she was dead..."

‟What the fuck..?", Riven asked loudly. She spotted people who walked through the streets, she saw the skeleton of one of these giants still lying where she had slain him. A few others were busy to clean up the rest of the cannon line, others started to crush the skeleton. She heard hooves on the street, and looked up. A small unit of riders rode through the street. The person who led this unit, was well known.

‟Sky!", she shouted in surprise and ran towards him. Even though her legs nearly gave in.

‟Riven! Perfect timing! Mount up. We will scout the surrounding area", he said. He sounded nearly happy and motivated.

‟Could someone please explain to me, what the hell is going on here? I just awoke, lying on the street after floating between worlds..and what the hell is with Diana?! Is she fine?", Riven exclaimed loudly. Nevertheless, she mounted up on one of the spare horses, while she cut away the remaining rope around her body. They slowly rode through the main gate, which was utterly destroyed.

The surrounding countryside was wide grassland, traversed by small rivers as well as some smaller and bigger hills and mountains. In the far distance she spotted some sort of small villages surrounded by wide fields. It somehow reminded her of a rougher version of Demacia. Above them was the clear blue sky with only a few white clouds.

After a short moment Riven looked over her shoulder, and looked over the city. It looked somehow strange. The walls were torn down at many points, stone and bricks were lying around everywhere.

Some streets looked like an earthquake took place there. The staircase which led to the Institute of War was severely damaged and destroyed. The building itself rested on some smaller mountain. All in all it looked like the whole town didn't belong in this area.

‟Alright, Riven. I'll explain it in short..and first things first: Diana is completely fine. Her wounds have healed, but she still needs some rest. Once we come back, you can visit her ", Sky began, while they slowly rode over a dusty and not very often used road, moving closer to one of the villages.

Diana was alive. Riven felt relieved, yeah even lighthearted. Everything turned out somehow good. Even though they were in some kind of strange country here, but that wouldn't matter as long as these giants couldn't follow them. ‟I will do that immediately. Alright..I'm listening", she replied, her voice somehow even cheerful.

‟So...we conjured the spell to ban these giants away. But something went horribly wrong, don't ask me what. Instead of the giants...WE were teleported. Together with Demacia and Noxus", Sky started, and Riven's eyes widened in surprise.

‟So...we got teleported...and WHERE are we? Is this some kind of new continent?"

‟That's a good question, Riven. It could be another continent on Runeterra...but we could as well be teleported into another dimension. Just like the Void is one for example", Sky explained. ‟We've got some magical messages from Demacia as well as Noxus, reporting that they're here as well in the surrounding area a few miles away."

‟Huh...but it seemed that this dimension is inhabited", Riven nodded into the distance. ‟So it can't be that bad."

‟Most likely...hopefully their friendly", Sky replied calmly. ‟Anyway...we landed up here. Some civilians, soldiers and champions are still trapped, and they arrive in short intervals. Just like you did a few minutes ago. But, our summoners are trying to catch them inside the void."

‟Huh...", Riven simply replied, and nodded. She thought about this whole thing for a moment. ‟So..we can never return to Valoran or Runeterra?"

‟I don't have an answer to this, Riven. We don't know how things will work out..for now..we concentrate on rebuilding, and scouting and maybe make some friends with the inhabitants", Sky answered.

‟General! Something's coming in front of us!", a soldier suddenly reported. All eyes went forward. And Riven didn't believe her eyes once more.

The unit who ran towards them, wore all the same kind of rather strange uniform. Most of them wore some kind of white shirt, over it a short light brown jacket. On both shoulders, as well as on the front pocket some sort of symbol was to see, showing two crossed swords. Around their waist they wore some brown sash, white pants and knee-high dark brown leather boots. One of them, most likely their leader, sat on a horse. The others ran behind him, with big backpacks.

'Trainings measures for stamina..', Riven instantly thought. She recognized this from her own training, during her time as a recruit on Noxus army.

‟Stop, recruits!", their leader yelled.

‟Well..that's our best shot here..let's find out where we are", Sky said, and rode closer to the approaching leader. Riven followed him.

‟At least..they're humans...and not some kind of strange creatures", Riven said quietly, and Sky nodded in approval. 'So...we're in a dimension where humans live...good for us.'

‟My greetings", Sky started, and raised own hand.

‟Greetings...who are you? These are military training grounds. You shouldn't be here", the soldier asked. An older looking man, his head was bald. He had dark circles around his eyes, which made him somehow look frightened. He had a short beard on his chin.

‟My name is Sky, general of the combat summoners of the Institute of War. On my side is Riven, the Exile. A warrior and champion..", Sky started. His tone was calm, friendly. The man looked...puzzled? Confused? It was clear, he didn't understand what they were talking about.

‟I'm Keith Shadis, Instructor of the 104th Trainees Corps. And..I will be honest with you: What are you talking about? From which city you are?", he asked. His voice commanding, strong. A leader.

‟Noxus...", Riven answered plainly.

‟Never heard of that. Which wall?"

‟Wall?", Riven asked confused.

‟Maria, Rose, Sina?", Keith Shadis replied. They all looked at each other for a moment. It was obvious they all talked past each other. The situation had something hilarious. Sky cleared his throat.

‟Well..alright. We can be sure now, Riven. We're not in our dimension anymore...eh..Keith Shadis? Would you lead us to your leader? We will explain everything. But it's a long shot, and I guess it will sound like a fairy tale to you", Sky said, in an attempt to rescue the situation.

‟Are you kidding me?", the man asked Sky and frowned.

‟No, we're not. If you don't believe us...follow this road then you will reach a whole city. Everyone in there will tell you the exact same thing, we did", Riven answered calmly. The man looked at them for a moment, like they would be some kind of maniacs, and Riven couldn't blame him.

‟Tse...I've seen much weird shit on the outside world. Alright. Follow us, then you can explain everything", he replied, even though his face still showed some sort of mistrust. He shortly looked over their armor and clothing. ‟Recruits! We're returning to Trost! You follow us then."

‟Thank you very much", Sky said, and waved shortly, so that the other soldiers could close the ranks.

While the recruits took on a new formation, Riven shortly spotted a boy amongst them. He had brown hair, and teal-green eyes. He was more or less an average, young man nothing special. But, Riven recognized him. 'He's...he's the one...the one from the dreams...', she thought. They young man looked at her for a moment. It felt like brother and sister, or two friends, which saw each other again after a long time. His eyes showed some sort of...recognition.

‟Eren Yeager! Back in formation!", Keith Shadis yelled.

‟Yes, Sir!", the man answered, and ran to his position.

'The walls...the boy...the uniforms...my dreams have become reality...?', Riven thought. She looked into the distance. They weren't safe. This...was just the beginning.

* * *

**Author's Note**

Here it is! Now this is officially a crossover! We have finally reached the point in which the universe merged into each other!

On a side note and just for your information (and to avoid confusion): While the people from Valoran were trapped in the void, about two years (a few months more) have passed in Eren's world. For Riven and the rest no time has passed. Next chapters will show, why I have done this time skip. :P


	5. 3D Maneuver Gear

**Chapter 4**

**3D Maneuver Gear **

**Outskirts of Trost, a few hours later...**

Riven rubbed over her eyes, as she hardly believe what she saw. They slowly rode down a hill, which led to the city district of Trost, one of the major cities within Wall Rose or at least that's how Keith Shadis explained it to them, even though he didn't talk that much to them, and was more busy shouting at his recruits.

But what was far more impressive, was the giant wall. Riven estimated its height on about fifty meters at least. But not only its height, also the length of it was impressive. It was running far beyond the horizon. On top of it, she spotted some cannons as well as moving dots most likely soldiers, who watched over it. 'How could they even build something like this?', Riven thought and just stared at it.

Her eyes wandered deeper to the main gate again. It looked ridiculously small in comparison to the wall. Even though it was still big enough, that these giants could walk through..or the bigger ones crawling through. Riven crunched her teeth for a moment. Her mind already started to think again, about these monstrosities.

But it was no wonder in some way. She was in the world, which she had dreamed about. The world where these giants broke through the outer gate. She was sure about it. Even though she still wondered how something like this was possible. 'Was it something like a vision? I should really ask Sky later about this..', Riven thought.

As they got closer to the city, more people watched their approaching. Some quietly spoke with each other, pointing an the combat summoners and herself. Riven felt somehow uneasy about this. She disliked being the center of attention.

‟Head instructor Shadis. Who are they?", a soldier asked, when they were before the gate into the city. The gate was massive, and thick built out of bricks, strong enough to withstand any siege. She looked down on the soldier again. He wore the normal uniform, together with some strange metal boxes around his hips and some sort of gas bottles above them. She spotted some sort of blades within the boxes.

‟Very hard to explain. I'll lead them to the HQ. They will decide about it", Shadis answered to the soldiers, before riding through the gate. ‟Recruits! Back to the billet! Prepare yourself for three dimensional training."

‟Yes, Sir!" The recruits started to walk off, even though the one boy who was called Eren shortly looked back. The girl beside him, chin length black hair, with a pale skin and gray eyes, stopped too, and looked back. They talked with each other quietly, before following the rest of their unit.

'Huh...', Riven thought simply and followed Keith Shadis deeper into the town.

The city remembered her of Demacia's or Noxus outskirts. Most buildings were built half-timbered, and rather high. Most had three or four stories. Between the hundreds of houses were some giant stone towers, most likely some form of bell tower. The streets were all plastered, and filled with hundreds of people. Small booths stood left and right from the street, it was obviously some kind of market going on. She overheard some conversations.

‟I've heard rumors that something is going on within the military area.."

‟What's with that kind of armor?"

‟Look! This girl has white hair...is she really that old?"

Some soldiers were passing by, watching them closely. On their arms and backs they had a different symbol. A green head of a horse with a white mane, before a shield. They carried some firearms with them. Riven looked at them for a moment, saw their frowned heads. She tightened the grip around the reigns. She didn't feel very welcome here.

‟Stay calm...", Sky ordered quietly.

‟We're drawing far too much attention...", Riven replied, quietly, a bit nervous.

‟We are arriving at HQ in a few moments. I will report in", Keith explained to them, and they simply nodded.

The headquarter of this city as well as the military was a giant castle like building, built out of massive stone. It looked like someone fused together an old, outdated castle and a palace. Their little unit rode through a gate, guarded by some soldiers again, this time with roses as their symbols.

They stepped into a giant courtyard, in the middle of it stood some sort of statue. Directly before them was the giant castle like structure. On their ride sight was some kind of pedestal. It looked like a place where officers spoke to their troops before a battle.

Here it was rather silent, with only a few people were here, minding their own business. Most of them didn't notice their unit, only shortly looking in their direction. Riven looked up to the windows. Behind them she spotted more soldiers, as well as people who distantly looked like some form of noblemen.

‟I'll announce your coming. Stay here in the courtyard", Keith said, and stepped into the building.

They got down from their horses. A few of the soldiers walked over to them, asking to supply their horses. Sky agreed, and they walked away again, followed by their animals. Everyone had a rose as their symbol. 'Different units I suppose?', Riven thought and looked around. On the walls, some flags were hanging, flying in the wind. They showed a face on some green ground.

‟I don't feel any kind of magic at all...", some combat summoner said quietly to Sky.

‟Yeah. And it didn't look like that they have something like this", Sky replied calmly. ‟It will be better if we approach this thematic...carefully."

Riven walked idly through the courtyard. She shortly grabbed the hilt of her sword. The runes reacted instantly, and emitted a mild light. 'Huh..still working good', she thought pleased. She sat down beside the monument, and looked at the sky.

After a short moment Keith came out of the building again. Riven stood up again, and walked towards him together with Sky. ‟Alright. You two follow this soldier. You will explain everything to Dot Pixis himself, as well as some of the noblemen here", he explained them. A short nod, then he walked to his horse and left the courtyard.

‟Alright...let's go then", Riven said calmly. The soldier saluted. A rather strange salute, his right hand was clenched, lying on his chest where the heart was.

The red carpet, inside the headquarter, dampened their steps. The only noise which was to hear, was the one from the market directly outside of the building. Riven looked out of the windows for a moment, overlooking the city. It was gigantic, a metropolis surrounded by walls. 'Like a cage...', she thought for a second.

‟Here we are. They await you", the soldier said. He shortly knocked on the wooden doors, before opening them. Sky and Riven stepped into the rather small room, and looked around curiously. Some soldiers stood around close to the walls, all equipped with firearms. A long table stood in the middle of it, some people sat there, while one of them stood at the window.

The man turned around. He looked rather old, the white mustache and bald head only strengthened this impression of him. Even though he still looked kinda fit and trained. His golden eyes watched over them, inspecting them. His lips formed a short smile. ‟Two soldiers, I assume?", he started without a greet. He grabbed under his brown jacket, and drank out of a small brown bottle. Riven smelt some form of strong alcohol.

‟You're right, sir", Riven said in a respectful tone. ‟We have many questions..and will answer to yours."

‟Very well, let's get this done. I don't have much time", one of the men at the table said. He was obviously some kind of noblemen. The complete opposite of the soldier, even though the age was about the same.

‟In a hurry, hm?", the soldier said, and sat down at the table.

‟We have much to do right now Dot Pixis... and center has already asked questions about these strange lightnings", another nobleman said.

Riven and Sky sat down at the table, shortly they looked at each other.

‟Alright, I guess we start from the very beginning", Sky started calmly. ‟Don't ask questions for now, wait until I'm finished. Alright..let's start..."

He started from the very beginning, explaining what kind of continent Valoran was, what the League, Champions and so on was. He told them about their fighting against these giants. Hour after hours passed, what Riven only noticed because of the wandering sun outside of the room. And even after he finished, all of them asked questions. About magic, about their countries. And even Riven needed to show off her magical capabilities by summoning her blade twice.

In return they learned much about this country. The walls were indeed built to protect the humanity from these giants, called 'Titans'. After one hundred years of peace, one titan, called 'The Colossal Titan', broke through the front gate of the city district of Shiganshina. Another titan broke the inner gate, forcing humanity to fall back behind the second wall: Rose. A fifth of the population was lost together with a third of territory.

That was nearly four years ago. Riven somehow felt kinda frustrated. They tried to run away from the..'Titans', somehow summoned into their world, only to end up in their original dimension. 'Our situation didn't turn any better', she thought with gallows humor.

‟So...that's the story so far. What do we do now?", Sky asked everyone in the round. Even though some stated, they were in a hurry, right now everyone looked rather thoughtful. Obviously nobody had any good idea.

‟For now...", one of the nobleman said, ‟it will be the best when you and your people stay close to your cities. We will allow you to build up villages, and fields around the cities to supply yourself with everything needed. We will inform the center and the king about your presence."

‟If you don't mind...", Dot Pixis threw in with his calm tone. He drank again out of his bottle, before continuing: ‟But, I would ask you to send some of your soldiers to military training."

‟You really want to recruit them into our military?", one of the nobles asked, doubting.

‟Indeed. Unlike many of our new recruits or even soldiers, they have already faced the Titans in direct combat. I'm honest with you here, most soldiers are frightened to death when fighting them. Yes..I want them for the military."

‟What kind of training?", Riven asked and frowned slightly.

‟A training to fight Titans", Pixis answered and smiled shortly. Riven looked at him, but her mind already started to work. Pixis shortly nodded at one soldier, who then left the room for a moment.

‟If you have the possibilities to fight them equally...I will gladly take part in the training", Riven replied motivated. Pixis shortly looked at her, watching her posture. ‟Our main problem in the past was, that we couldn't fight the Titans in direct combat. They would run through our defensive lines, and crush us...reaching a weak spot fifteen meter high is rather..complicated."

The soldier came back again, placing some kind of gear on the table. Gas cylinder, some kind of hand grips which distantly looked like sword hilts, and some kind of strange..well, Riven didn't have a description for it. It distantly looked like a round box, with propellers of some sort.

‟Three dimensional maneuver gear. Your way to fight Titans. If you master this gear, you can fight them. Reaching their weak spot won't be a problem anymore. And? What do you want?", Dot Pixis asked her calmly.

‟You ask me this question?", Riven asked. ‟I accept. We will fight at your side, and wipe these Titans of this world. Every single one." One of the soldiers shortly looked at her, frowning.

‟I agree with that. I will bring this message to our leaders. They will most likely agree", Sky added.

‟Then it is settled. We will start in about two weeks with the military training. For now..go back to your city", Pixis replied, and took another sip from his bottle.

‟Alright. We're leaving for now then..", Sky said calmly and stood up. Riven followed his example. ‟We will see you soon." They nodded, and Riven and Sky left the room together with a soldier who would lead them out.

Shortly before the door closed, Riven heard how someone of the nobles said: ‟How can you trust them that easily Pixis?"

‟I'm willing to take a risk. When they fight with us and use their...'magic', we could beat the Titans for the first time. I really hate to lose."

* * *

**Two weeks later...**

Riven put on the brown jacket, and shortly looked into the mirror. She wore the same kind of uniform, these recruits had worn. But, unlike them, she also wore some kind of complicated leather belts around her whole body. 'Weight-Shifting-Equipment', their instructor had called it. It was needed to fully use the maneuver gear.

During the last weeks the news spread like wildfire through human territory. Luckily, most people didn't really care about it. But, well. They had some visitors in the city and League, asking questions and so on. Some seemed to mistrust them, often enough the people with green horses as their symbol. 'Military Police', Riven thought. Their job was to hold up the order within the walls. But, Riven heard some rumors about them being corrupt. She didn't trust them.

‟Really? This outfit looks even worse, than the clown clothing I needed to wear, to sneak into Zaun", a voice said behind her. Riven shortly smiled, and turned around. Diana stood there with her arms folded, and dressed in the same uniform like her.

After they got back from their meeting with Dot Pixis and the noblemen, Riven immediately had visited Diana. They had talked about everything, what has happened, and Diana agreed to follow her to the military training. Something Riven was really happy about.

‟Well..our heavy armor is too heavy for this gear", Riven replied amused. ‟You have cut your hair?" Diana grumbled quietly. Her hair was unusually short, only about shoulder-length.

‟They told me it would be more practical, because I would otherwise snarl it up in the gear. So, yes..I needed to cut it. Damn Titans...", Diana said, and sighed.

‟Well, we start today. And I'm feeling good to go", Riven said with zeal. She shortly cracked her neck. Diana walked over to her and shortly massaged over her shoulders and neck.

‟HM.. after laying around for so long, it's some welcomed change", Diana replied amused. ‟You're really uptight. Didn't sleep well?"

‟The beds aren't that comfortable like in the League", Riven said with a chuckle. She sighed shortly, as she felt Diana's hand wandering over her shoulder blades. ‟Let's go then, shall we?"

‟Mm..we have to. Wouldn't be good to be late." Diana gave her a short kiss on her neck, before they left the barracks.

The training camp was lying somewhere outside from any major cities or villages. The surrounding area was nothing more than wasteland. They lived like every other recruit: In some small, wooden houses together with dozens of other soldiers. The camp itself was built in some crater, protected by a palisade and barbwire.

‟Did you hear about the magical thing?", Diana asked her, while they walked to the drill ground.

‟I have. That's strange to be honest and it somehow lowers our power against these 'Titans'", Riven answered with a sigh. She wasn't used to it to use the term 'Titan' to describe these..monsters.

During the last two weeks a rather strange phenomenon occurred within the League and the two other city states. Some magical items stopped working, and even some summoners as well as champions complained about losing some of their magical capabilities. Nobody had an explanation for this. Sky assumed it may be a side effect of the teleportation. Or maybe because this world didn't have any kind of magic.

Whatever it was..it changed the life within the League drastically.

‟Hm...", Diana said thoughtfully. ‟What about you? Did you feel any effect?"

‟No, nothing at all. Even though...", Riven answered and thought about it for a moment. ‟Even though the runic energy is feeling..different. It's hard to describe."

‟Well, I don't have anything to do with this magic", Diana said amused. ‟So I couldn't understand it anyway...well here we go."

Here they were. The drill ground. It was already filled with people. Soldiers and champions alike. All of them wore the same kind of uniform, like the regular soldiers. Riven overlooked them all. Nearly all of the soldiers and combat summoners were relatively young, about her own age. She didn't spot a single officer amongst them. She saw Irelia which shortly waved at them. Caitlyn was also there, together with Vi. Diana and Riven walked over to them, and took their place in the formation.

‟Good to see you again", Riven said in Vi's and Caitlyn's direction. They shortly nodded at her. ‟Looks like nearly everyone is here, right?"

‟Yeah. League's summoners ordered that. Nearly every champ was ordered to go to this training", Vi replied unusual calmly.

‟Could use a change of scenery..the League is making me sick", Irelia stated. Her blades whirled around. ‟And killing some of these Titan bastards should be fun...payback time." Just as Caitlyn wanted to say something, they were interrupted by a loud voice.

‟ATTENTION!" The whole drill ground immediately went silent, and everyone looked up. On a small hill stood a man. A well known person to Riven at least. Keith Shadis.

‟You're now officially members of the First Special Trainee Squad! My name is Keith Shadis and I will be in charge of your training! From now on you will serve in our army and protect humanity before the Titans! All of you have at least some kind of military experience, and all of you have faced the Titans and saw what they're capable of! In one mere year, I will train you well enough that you can kill them! You will no longer be mere livestock!"

Keith jumped down from his hill and started to walk through the formation.

‟Because this training is unusual and special, you will train together with the 104th Trainee Squad, which is also under my command! You're here to learn one single thing! The usage of Three Dimensional Maneuver Gear! If you can master it, you will be able to take down every single Titan! If you can't use it, you're not worthy to be called soldiers! Then the single thing you will do is gather field fruits! Understand?!"

‟Yes, sir!", the whole unit answered with one voice.

Riven's expression darkened slightly. So that was the deal. 'So...if we can't use it, we're not fit for combat even if we fought for years now..we probably would just stand in their way', she thought, and clenched her fists.

‟Because we don't have any time to lose, we will start right away!", Shadis yelled. ‟Turn around and follow me!" Everyone turned around on the spot, and followed Keith a short way. Riven shortly looked to Diana, which just nodded.

They reached some other part of the training grounds. A few constructs were built up here. Every single one looked like three steel pillars were rammed into the earth, slightly tilted. Above these pillars, some kind of construction was built, distantly reminding Riven of a weighing device. Two steel wires were hanging down from it. Some soldiers waited for them there.

‟This is the very first test for you! The aptitude test! If you can't pass it, you will leave this camp by tomorrow! Split up in groups and get ready!", he ordered them loudly.

After a very brief moment of chaos, they were split up into groups. Riven was the first to go in her group. ‟You there! Step forward!", Keith ordered her. ‟Your name?"

‟Riven, The Exile, sir!", Riven answered in a tone, in which she hadn't spoken for years. She saluted in the Noxian way. The right flat hand on her temple. She wasn't sure if she needed to do this, but it was a gesture of respect anyway. 'Back in the Noxian army I guess..', Riven thought somehow amused.

‟Your salute is wrong, Exile", Keith simply stated. Riven then instantly remembered the gesture from the other day. She clenched her fist, and nearly slammed it onto her chest, where her heart beat. ‟That's better! With this gesture you're offering your heart to the king! Step forward!"

Riven stepped directly under the construction of metal. A soldier walked over to her and fixed the steel wires at her belt.

‟You will be lifted up now! Stay upright and you're good to go! If you fail..the exit is over there! Alright up with her!" The soldier who fixed the wires, walked to one of the steel pillars and started to slowly turn a wheel.

Riven immediately changed the position of her feet, to a more balanced position. Then she lost contact with the ground. 'Focus...focus on the target...stand upright...', she thought, and took a deep breath. She was pulled a bit higher, about one foot above the ground. Riven felt how she slightly swung, but she stood upright. It was a strange feeling to be only connected to two small wires. Nevertheless, she held her balance using her arms to stabilize.

‟That is the very first step of using the maneuver gear! Good! Let her down! Next!"

One after another was pulled up. Every single one of the constructions was in use. Riven watched the whole process. Some soldiers were unable to uphold themselves, and fell over. A few others swung pretty hard, but hold themselves up. Diana, Caitlyn and Vi did well too. But, of course Irelia was the very best in this. She nearly didn't have any kind of movement at all. 'Balance in all things, huh?', Riven thought.

The sun already started to set, when they were finished with this part of their training. Keith Shadis dismissed them for the rest of the evening, so they could eat something and sleep. Riven and Diana walked straight to the building, where they could take a meal. Most other soldiers followed them, a few others walked to their barracks.

The building was crowded. Dozens of other recruits were here, eating and talking with each other. Most of them were ordinary recruits, most likely from the 104th squad, as Riven recognized some of the faces, which she saw back in Trost.

‟Hey..isn't this the guy who stared at you?", Diana asked quietly, while they held the wooden tray with her food. She nodded at one table, more in the corner of the room. Riven followed her nod, and instantly remembered the boy.

‟He is...there is a place free. Let's go there. Maybe we can ask a few things", Riven answered and walked through the tables and people. Some stared at them, some shortly whispered to each other.

‟Can we take a seat?", Riven asked the boy. Beside him sat a young woman, the same from Trost. On the other side sat another boy. Smaller in comparison to the other two, with blonde hair and blue eyes. All three of them looked up.

‟Sure", the boy with dark brown hair said. Diana and Riven placed their trays on the table, and sat down.

While Riven searched for the fitting words to begin the conversation, it was the blonde haired boy who started it. ‟You both belong to these.. outsiders, right?", he asked. His voice sounded a bit nervous.

‟Outsiders? So that's what they're calling us", Diana said amused. She took a bit from her bread, before answering: ‟Yeah, we do. My name is Diana, Scorn of the Moon. And beside me is Riven, the Exile."

‟Armin Arlert", the blonde boy introduced himself. ‟This is Eren Yaeger and Mikasa Ackerman."

‟So, you're Eren right?", Riven asked the boy, and he nodded. 'He is the one from my dreams...what the hell's going on?', Riven thought for a moment, and frowned. She decided that it wasn't important right now. There was another short silence between them.

‟Tell me about your world", Eren suddenly asked, like it burst out of him. ‟I heard so many things, but I couldn't believe it. You...you really aren't from here, right?"

‟That's right. We appeared here by accident...let's make it short. In our world these Titans appeared and quickly overwhelmed us. They killed thousands of innocents, destroyed our cities and villages...", Riven shortly looked down. Images of Piltover flashed in her mind, but she pushed them aside. ‟Well..our leaders had an idea. By using magic, they wanted to ban these creatures from the world. But, well, it failed. And instead we were brought here."

‟I heard about this..'magic'. But, I thought they were just fairy tales", Mikasa stated, and looked at them both.

‟Well..it's clearly not", Diana simply stated. She raised one of her hands, and without any effort it started to glow in moonlight, quickly wandering over her body. The symbol, which glowed on her forehead when she does this, appeared too. Riven then realized that the whole building was listening, and watching. Diana ended with her little light show, and smiled shortly.

‟I wouldn't believe these things, if I haven't seen it now", someone from the recruits said.

‟Tell me more about your homeland", Eren looked at them. His face showed curiosity, yes, nearly a thirst for knowledge about everything.

‟Well... it was a giant island..", Riven started, before she was interrupted by Armin.

‟An island?"

‟Yes. A giant island surrounded by two endless oceans. The 'Conqueror's Sea' and 'Guardian's Sea'", again she was interrupted.

‟Wait..an endless blue ocean? Salt water?", Eren asked.

‟Yes...", then Riven realized. ‟You...nobody of you has ever seen anything outside from these walls..right?"

‟No. We were living inside these walls for the past hundred years. Before the Colossal Titan smashed through the gate of Shiganshina", Eren stated, his voice was a bit colder. Riven recognized this kind of voice. Dark memories from the past.

‟Besides of that the King's government banned people from showing interest in the outside world", Armin continued to explain.

‟They forbid you to show interest in such a topic? How could they do something like this? I mean..never seeing anything beyond these giant walls", Riven asked. She saw how Eren's expression brightened slightly.

‟Most humans are afraid of going outside", Mikasa said. Her voice was calm. ‟Afraid because of the Titans. So it's pretty easy to forbid interest in the outside world."

‟That's a valid point", Diana replied. ‟But what about you?"

‟Armin showed me a book about the outside world...seas of fire, a land of ice and snow, wide salt water seas...since then we both wanted to see everything. We didn't want to be caged in like livestock", Eren answered.

‟Going outside is suicide. We're just giving the Titans a free lunch", some of the recruits said. Eren immediately jumped up from his seat, and looked through the rows. But, Mikasa pulled him back down.

Riven felt the tension, which was in the air. 'So, there are more or less two camps here...', she realized. Before she could answer, Diana spoke.

‟Anyway...Riven do you want to start?" Her voice was calm, she was obviously trying to calm down the whole situation.

‟Huh...alright. What I will tell you now, will sound like another fairy tale. But, believe me everything is true", Riven said. ‟Even though..there is no way for us to go back." Riven saw a short reaction from Mikasa. For a moment, her face showed...sorrow? 'What's with her?', she thought for a moment. She couldn't ask her now, too many people wanted to hear a story.

And so she started. Riven wasn't a storyteller, but she tried her best to explain them everything. Together with Diana, she spoke about nearly every corner of Valoran. Starting from the more unspectacular things like Demacia, and Noxus, explaining them the wide deserts of Shurima, the jungle of Kumungu, and telling them about the cold and frosty land Freljord. All of them hung at their lips, asking questions, stating their unbelieving.

It was late in the night, when she finished her story. It was the time where everyone slowly walked to their barracks and to bed. Eren, Armin, Mikasa, Diana and Riven were the last one who sat there.

‟I guess we see you tomorrow?", Riven asked the three.

‟Most likely. We have three dimensional training tomorrow, so it could be", Armin answered.

‟Alright", Riven replied with a short smile, before standing up. Diana followed her example. ‟See you tomorrow then. Have a good night."

‟You too. See you tomorrow", Eren said.

As Riven laid cuddled up to Diana's warm body within her bed, she thought about the situation. They would never go back. All what they could do now, was to fight and protect these walls. They needed to pass this training. Then there was a chance for them to actually win this battle. 'We can make it...we can win', was Riven's last thought before she fell asleep.


	6. Courage

**Author's Note**

I wouldn't believe it, but writing 3D maneuver gear movement was rather complicated. It seems to be easy in the anime, but writing something like this is...well. Oh, and for your information.. to add a part of the anime the italic writing in the first part, are Keith Shadis thoughts. You will understand :P

This chapter contains many cameos from so many characters, I can't count them all. Have fun!

**Chapter 5**

**Courage**

**One year later...year 850**

Riven felt the wind in her hair and on her face. She felt how different parts of her body and muscles hardly worked. She felt the leather belts, around her whole body, how they pressed against her clothing. She heard how the steel wire was pulled back, into the operating device. And, even though it was rather quiet, she heard the leaking from gas together with the clunk from the two metal scabbards at her thighs.

‟Your targets are on the west side! Move there and cut it!", Keith Shadis yelled loudly. He rode on a horse, following them and their movement.

‟Understood! We're moving!", Riven yelled back. She looked forward again. Right now she was flying through the air, a bit above the crowns of smaller trees, using the three dimensional maneuver gear. She pushed one button on her right handgrip, to disconnect the grapple-hook from another tree. Flying through the air without any connection. 'Only some lunatics could think about things like this', she shortly thought.

But, she didn't have the time for this. She pushed another button on her left handgrip, while aiming at the trunk of a giant tree. The grapple-hook was shot out, and hooked it onto the tree. She used her momentum, swinging around the trunk, changing her direction westwards, already aiming for the next tree, to continue her fast movement.

The past year was completely filled out with training. Even though Keith Shadis told them, they would mostly train the third dimension movement, they learned far more. Some tactical things like defending a city, a few brief lessons in history and so on. Vice versa, they showed of their magical capabilities. Fast movement in the blink of an eye, summoning beams of energy.

Even though...the magic was getting weaker. During the past weeks even Riven had some minor issues, summoning her whole sword. The League's High Summoners already started to work on a solution, thinking about possibilities to stop this loss of magic. Anyway, it wasn't her concern.

They had often met Eren, and his friends together with the rest of the 104th Trainee corps. It reminded Riven of Fury Company somehow. So many different individuals, so many different reasons why they were here. All in all a rather mixed group. But, they got along somehow. Even though Riven still had some issues, with this Jean Kirstein. He was far too... well, cynical about fighting the Titans.

Riven fired the grapple-hook again, and while she flew through the air, she prepared her swords. The swords these soldiers were using, were rather...unusual. Plug in blades, single-edged. She never actually saw 'plug in' blades in her entire life. They were in no way weapons to fight other humans in a one on one battle, like she knew it. They were made for one purpose: Killing Titans.

Riven still felt somehow uneasy to use this...well swords. In direct comparison to her rune blade, they were low quality, made for recruits but not soldiers like herself. At least she felt that way. But, she couldn't use the gear with her rune sword. It was a rather annoying situation.

‟Here we go!", she shouted. She reached one small clearing. Multiple targets were there. Figures, which distantly looked like Titans made out of wood. On their weak point, they had some sort of softer material, resembling the skin of a Titan. It was a training to teach them to attack from the right direction and cutting deep enough to actually kill a titan.

‟Hey, Riven! You're slow!", another person yelled. Another person flew through the clearing, cutting over the nape of the trainings dummy. Her white hair and voice was enough for Riven to recognize her. Diana swung around a tree, and landed on a branch.

_Diana, Scorn of the Moon. While she lacks outstanding skills with the maneuver gear, she compensates this weakness by use of her magical abilities, and fast movements._

‟Ts! We just have started!", Riven yelled back to Diana, while she did the same to the dummy, cutting out a piece of its 'nape'.

‟You just started? I'm counting three already!", yet another person yelled. Through the leaves of a tree, Irelia appeared. Out of all recruits and soldiers, she was the most notable. Even though she wore the normal uniform, and used the maneuver gear like everyone else, she still had her hovering blades, which she used to cut through the napes of the dummies.

_Irelia, Will of the Blades. She is outstanding in nearly every category, reaching the capabilities of Mikasa Ackerman. But, her personality makes teamwork complicated._

‟Stop bragging about this, Irelia! You're cheating!", Diana shouted and with a short smile to Riven, she disappeared into the woods again.

‟Tsk!", Irelia replied, with a short laugh and disappeared on the other side the clearing. Riven decided to go another route, separated from them.

Riven shortly looked to her right, spotting another dummy in the distance, who was getting prepared. 'This one's mine!', she thought. She disconnected herself from the tree, and turned around in midair. She fired both hooks again at two different trees, swinging between them like a swing set. But, again someone was faster than her.

Shortly before she could make the cut, there was a short brown flash of a person and the noise as the nape, hit the ground.

‟Hey, Sasha! This one was mine!", Riven complained loudly, doing the cut a bit deeper under the one Sasha already did.

‟Yahoo! Number two!", the brown haired girl yelled with passion, and a big grin on her face, while she nearly dropped onto the ground before being pulled up by her gear again. ‟You're too slow Riven!" With a laugh Sasha flew away, somewhere deeper into the forest.

‟You all are stealing from me! Tsk!", Riven replied with a short laugh. Sasha Blouse. Riven didn't know why, but this girl always made her smile. She was so simple minded... you never could be really angry at her. Riven heard about an incident during the beginning of the training of the 104th squad. Something with a potato, which brought Sasha the nickname 'Potato Girl'.

Riven shoot the hook again, and landed on a nearby branch of a giant tree. Shortly she reoriented herself. The forest in which they trained was rather thick, tree by tree an optimal areal to fight. Riven shortly spotted some movement, and heard the a faint noise. The soldiers were obviously preparing more Titans for them. ‟Ha..this time I will get them!"

She jumped down from the tree. It was crazy. Jumping from a tree, fifteen meters or more high would normally be deadly. But, she didn't need to care anymore. She shot the hooks, and got reeled towards them with an amazing speed. 'If we had this stuff in Piltover...', she thought for a moment, but pushed it to the side. It didn't matter.

When she reached another big clearing, there were already four of the dummies prepared. ‟Ha!", with a short scream she cut through the first one. She turned around midair again, but before she reached the second one she heard another one yelling.

‟Hey! You have a good nose finding Titans!" Out of one of the trees another young boy jumped down, and cut the nape of the second dummy.

‟Stealing again, Connie?", Riven shouted. She shortly grabbed behind her, at the gear and turned one of the small wheels, which regulated the pressure of the gas. She shot the hook again, and cut through the nape of the third dummy.

‟Hey, that's unfair!", Connie complained.

‟Keep it up then!", Riven shouted back. She turned around, facing the fourth Titan, but another person appeared out of the woods.

‟Valor! Eyes in the sky, we need to find more of them!", Quinn yelled, and the giant bird disappeared into the sky. She then easily cut through the nape of the fourth Titan.

_Quinn and Valor. They both had a partnership, I've never seen before. While she lacks combat skills, she made it up with her ability of quick decision making and unconventional operating with her eagle._

‟Demacian's! Always cheating!", Riven said loudly, with a grin.

‟I'm just using everything I have", Quinn replied, before she vanished together with Connie into the woods. Riven shortly shook her head with a smile.

'Well...could use a better view', she thought amused. She let herself falling down a bit, before shooting the grapple-hooks again at two different trees. She used her momentum, together with an higher output of gas, swinging like she would sit on a swing. She disconnected both of the hooks, pulling them back into the device. Shortly she closed her eyes, before she breached through the leaf canopy.

She shortly flew high above the trees, like a bird in the sky. She could see far into the distance, spotting their training camp, smaller villages and high mountains. The sun was shining, and only a few clouds were in the sky. She enjoyed the moment of freedom, to be unbound and free from any burden.

_Riven, the Exile. She lacks any outstanding capabilities and is more an allrounder, fit for every combat situation. Plus, she showed good capabilities of being a leader._

'So..it's like this to be a bird. High above everything..', Riven thought amused, before she started to fall down again. She quickly oriented herself, shooting the hook to a nearby branch in search for more 'Titans' to slay.

* * *

**A few days later...somewhere in Trost**

‟Cheers!"

‟We don't need to worry about anything anymore!"

‟It's on the military!"

The big room was crowded, every single table was filled with people and in the space between them more recruits stood around. Well, not recruits anymore. Finished recruits, who survived and finished the training and were ready to join one of the three military branches. They all talked, laughed, drunk and ate together celebrating their graduation.

The room itself was more kind of a cellar. Most windows were too high to actually watch out. The place was lit by some candles together with a giant chimney fire.

‟So, what do we do now? We're finished, armed and ready", Vi stated loudly, while she drunk off of a jug.

At one table, a bit farther away from the rest of the loud crowd, sat a bunch of champions. Riven, Diana, Caitlyn and Vi together with Irelia. They all wore more or less casual attire, Riven her normal travel outfit. Jugs stood before them, together with something to eat, which was something like a soup.

‟Well, they opened up nearly every military branch for us. No wonder though..as we all have military experience", Diana replied, and sipped from the jug.

‟I'll go to the Military Police, together with you Vi. There I can control what you're doing", Caitlyn said, and looked at her partner, which was pretending not to listen.

‟Fits you well. You were a sheriff after all..", Riven said with an encouraging smile. Caitlyn shortly smiled back. She leaned back and yawned quietly.

‟Hey cupcake, you're tired?", Vi asked with a broad grin.

‟How can I not? This whole training the last days was more exhausting unlike everything before", Caitlyn complained and stretched her arms and legs.

‟Anyway...where do you want to go Riven? Diana?", Irelia asked them both curios.

‟The Survey Corps", Riven answered immediately. She literally felt some eyes on her back. No wonder though. The Survey Corps was the smallest unit of the three. They fought the Titans, outside the safety of the walls. They fought in an area, crowded with them. Their casualties were high, their success low. Nevertheless... it was the one branch which was dedicated to push the Titans back. Destroying them. 'And that's the one thing I want..', Riven added in her head.

‟Wherever Riven goes..I'll follow. Someone needs to keep an eye on her", Diana said. She smiled shortly at Riven before turning more serious again. ‟What about you Irelia?"

‟I'm not quite sure yet. Yes..Survey Corps sounds pretty good for me...but my duty was always the defending of my people. So..maybe the Garrison would be the right choice?", Irelia answered thoughtfully. Her blades were hovering calmly beside her.

‟Heard anything from the others?", Riven asked curious. She didn't hear much about the other city states champions at this point.

‟I heard most of the Demacian champions joining the Garrison", Vi stated, with a shrug. ‟Fits somehow. I mean, what I've heard is that after the Rune Wars ended, the only thing they did was hugging their big ass walls. So they can do the same thing again."

‟I've heard rumors that Swain and High Command are trying to get a seat by the King's side. The King of this country, I mean", Irelia continued and grumbled.

‟Heard about animosities between the Demacian King and Swain about this...but Demacia is trying the same. Some High Summoners already have a place within Wall Sina", Caitlyn added.

‟Tsk. We're surrounded by fifty meter high walls, and all they do is caring for each other", Diana said annoyed. ‟Not to mention that we're..more or less guests in this land. The League is clever enough not to disagree with local politics."

‟Well...fighting within these walls, while surrounded by Titans isn't the best idea somebody could have. We have luck that most Demacians and Noxians agree about this", Caitlyn replied calmly.

Riven had heard about these things during her training. In fact Demacia, Noxus and the League didn't exist anymore. Well, they still had their own government and regions in which they ruled...but were more or less bound to the King. Some said that the League did it as an act of respect, others mumbled that the Military Police together with the King more or less forced them.

Well, 'forcing' was the false word for it. But, the League was clever enough not to risk problems within these walls, which protected them as well. For Riven it was meaningless. 'Don't matter if I listen to some Summoners or some King', she thought.

‟Bah, that's a boring subject! Right now, I want to celebrate!", Vi stated and took her jug, emptied it and stood up. ‟I get more! That's pretty..." Before Vi could finish her sentence, it was interrupted by a loud exclamation.

‟But you can't possibly win!"

The whole room immediately went silent, and Riven together with the rest stood up to see what was going on. In the distance, nearby to the stairs which led outside, a small group has gathered. She forgot the name, of the person who yelled it, it was a blonde young man, but the others she recognized. Armin, Eren, Mikasa. The boy continued.

‟You know full well...you know just how many have been eaten eaten by them. We've lost more than twenty percent of the entire population already. Mankind doesn't stand a chance against them."

The short silence in the entire room, felt heavy. Riven left her place, and slowly and quietly, walked towards the exit. She looked around. Most people in the room, seemed to be the sympathize with this view. But, before she could raise her voice, Eren started to talk.

‟So? You're just giving up because you think you can't win?"

‟Well..."

‟It's true. We've suffered only defeats so far. That's because we knew hardly anything about them! We can't defeat them using sheer numbers. We may have lost, but the knowledge we obtained from those battles is our guiding beacon of hope..." Eren clenched his fists. He seemed to be angry, and somehow...desperate?

‟Yet you'd discard the tactical progress bought by hundreds of thousands of sacrifices, just to serve up on a silver platter? You've gotta be kidding me. I'll kill every last one of them and break free of these walls! That is my dream! Mankind hasn't lost everything yet!" He turned around, while dropping his earthen jug. The loud noise, it made when hitting the ground felt..out of place.

‟And I agree with him on this one!", Riven said loudly, just before Eren had left the room, together with Armin and Mikasa. The recruits all looked at her now. ‟You should watch yourself. Frightened, desperate. Are only cowards living inside these walls?!" Her voice turned slightly angry.

‟Look at us!" Riven pointed behind her, on Diana, Caitlyn and the rest of her group. ‟We have lost our homeland. Hell, we're not even coming from this world. We've lost so much because of the Titans..are we giving up? We can and we will win. I will not rot inside these walls, I will not cover in fear. I will not allow them, to destroy this world as well!" She left the tavern, to find Eren. She heard how Diana followed her immediately.

As she stepped out into the cold night, she took a deep breath. It was a long time ago, when she actually shouted at people. 'I've sworn it...I will never give up again. I owe you that much Fury Company..', Riven thought with a short sigh.

‟You're alright?", Diana asked, and stepped out as well.

‟Yeah, I guess so...just didn't know what came over me there", Riven answered and looked up into the night sky. She felt Diana's hands on her hips and her head on her shoulder. She enjoyed the short moment.

‟No matter what..you both definitely left an impression on them", Diana stated, with a short smile. She looked up in the sky, spotting a full moon and the stars. ‟We always meet like this, huh? Always under a night sky."

‟Hm..", Riven mumbled her approval. She slowly turned around, giving Diana a short kiss on the lips. ‟We should talk to Eren for a moment...and then I really would appreciate some time for us two."

‟Some recruits spoke about a nice inn, not far away from here with extremely good rooms for two persons", Diana replied with a smirk. Riven grinned broadly.

‟Sound's perfect for me." She slowly let go of Diana, and looked around. She heard some talking in the distance, and together they walked towards it. They spotted the three friends, sitting and standing on a stone staircase leading down.

‟I don't want to lose, what's left of my family...", Mikasa said quietly. They looked up in the night stay for a moment. Eren heard the sound Riven and Diana made, as they got closer and turned around.

‟You two", he said, surprised. The two others looked over their shoulders as well. Riven sat down on the staircase, Diana beside her.

‟We two..", Riven said, and looked into the night sky. ‟Impressive talking, Eren. My old drill instructor would offer you a job as his assistant." Riven shortly smiled.

‟I meant everything, like I said. I will break free of these walls...and nothing will stop us", Eren stated. His voice was serious.

‟And, I agree with you about this. You know...I'm living here for only one year now...and its already feeling like a cage", Riven said slightly amused.

‟So..you're enlisting in Survey Corps too?", Armin asked surprised.

‟Yes. I will fight the Titans in their own territory...and I will wipe them away from this world. You know...I don't really know how we end up here. But, what I know is that these monsters already destroyed our world. They don't need to destroy yours, too ", Riven exclaimed, and clenched her fist.

‟Then..let's do this together", Eren suddenly said. ‟I've sworn myself to kill every single one. You're the first person, who has this goal too."

Riven shortly smiled. ‟Let's fulfill this dream, then. Let's free humanity from these cages...and let's see the ocean for one more time." Riven gave him his hand, and he clapped in.

‟And what about you, Diana?", Mikasa asked her.

‟That's easy for me. I'll follow Riven to this Survey Corps. I've sworn someone that I'll protect her, no matter the cost. I..I failed this once", Diana answered, and looked down for a moment. She was obviously hinting at the whole traitor summoners thing, which felt like it was aeons ago.

‟That's not really true..you couldn't..", Riven immediately protested, but Diana just waved.

‟I will keep her safe. That was my promise. And I will not fail again", Diana added, and looked at Mikasa. Riven didn't know what it was, but there was something like a spark between these two. Like they understood each other far better, than anyone else did it.

‟Somehow..we have many similarities", Mikasa just said in her usual calm voice.

‟We will all join Survey Corps then...", Eren stated, and the group nodded. They watched the dark night sky. A short flash of light was to see.

'A falling star?', Riven thought. She hadn't seen one in years. 'I guess...this is a good omen for us.'

* * *

**The next day...Trost District**

‟Maintaining the batteries on the wall...you've gotta be kidding me!", Riven complained loudly, but she sounded more like an bad actor. She checked the barrel of one of the cannons, and sighed shortly.

‟Always complaining huh?", Mina Carolina asked amused. She was right now cleaning another barrel with a piece of cloth.

‟I'm a soldier, who already fought in a few wars. Send me on a task like this..", Riven said, but laughed quietly.

Riven was together with a small unit of the 104th Trainee Corps above the main gate of the city of Trost. From here they could easily oversee the whole giant metropolis, and as well they could see far into the country beyond these walls. The land there once belonged to the humans, only five years ago. Now it was a Titan infested territory. Even from up here, they could see some of them lurking around in the far distance. None of them came close to the wall. Or at least they didn't come here for now.

Before the walls were some smaller buildings and settlements. They were all abandoned, no wonder though. Riven reminded these settlements of some Ionian villages during the war. Ghost villages, with nobody alive in them. These places crept her out.

Their job was to maintain and clean up the cannons up here. Rather strange constructions. They were built on railroads and could be moved around the entire wall. Climbing these giant walls up was problematic enough. The people of this country used some form of primitive elevator like construction, powered by gas and water alike.

The overall mood was good. Riven herself felt fantastic. The last night was pretty enjoyable. Just like Diana said, they found a really nice inn. Riven shortly grinned, before continuing to check the cannon. Right now, Diana was busy in another part of the wall, doing the exact same thing.

‟Uhm..by the way, Eren. I'm going to join the Survey Corps, too", Connie suddenly said.

‟What? You enlisted in Survey Corps?", Eren stated surprised.

‟Didn't you want to join the Military Police? I've heard something like this yesterday", Riven added, while she shortly stopped with her work.

‟Yeah..I know..but..", Connie replied a bit shyly. He seemed to be concentrating on polishing the metal of the battery.

‟Seems like he was listening to your lessons, yesterday", Mina stated with a chuckle.

‟Shut up!", Connie said somehow indignant. ‟That is my own decision."

‟Don't be so shy about it. You're not the only one", Thomas Wagner said. It was the same guy from yesterday. He seemed to be a bit nervous, right now.

‟So...not everyone in here is a coward", Riven stated amused, and earned a few grins and smiles.

‟Um...guys...", a girlish voice suddenly said. They looked up. Sasha slowly walked up towards them, obviously hiding something under her brown jacket. ‟I borrowed some meat from the officer's morning rations." With that she pulled out a rather big haunch of meat from under her jacket.

Riven laughed quietly, while the rest didn't seem to be amused like her.

‟Eh, Sasha. You wanna get solitary confinement?", Eren asked her somehow shocked.

‟You're a real idiot."

‟Real idiocy's scary..."

‟Let's split it all up together later", she said. Her voice really sounded somehow a bit crazy, and Riven literally saw how her mouth was watering.

‟Now, I get how you got this nickname", Riven said amused. ‟You only think about food, do you?"

‟Sasha..meat is a luxury now that we lost so much land. You really should bring it back", Mina stated worried.

With a really good mood, Sasha walked over to a small chest and placed the meat within it. ‟When nobody is telling, nobody will find out. And once we retake our land, we can keep pigs and cows again", she simply stated with a broad grin.

Riven shook her head, and got back to the cannons. 'Man..where did we land?', she thought amused. She shortly stopped, and looked to the outside world. It didn't look much different, then the land they had already seen within these walls. Forests, wide grassland, hills. Nothing special, in fact rather boring. 'What a strange world..'

Riven felt a sudden gust of wind, before the peace was crushed violently. A bright, yellow flash of lightning hit the ground before the gate to the outside world. And in a blink of an eye, a giant creature stood there. It looked like a Titan, but it didn't have any kind of skin left. Instead, they could see his muscles. It somehow looked far more human, than many other Titans. Its dark eyes watched over the walls.

Everyone looked at it. Surprised, shocked, stunned.

‟What the fuck!" A strong gust of wind suddenly hit the wall, and sent them flying from it. Riven heard a really loud noise, overshadowing everything else. She acted fast and shot out the grapple-hooks to link herself onto the wall.

‟The hell?!", Eren shouted loudly. He shot his hooks too, and stopped beside her, after slipping down a short moment.

‟Samuel!", Connie loudly shouted. Riven looked over her shoulder, and spotted how one of the recruits were falling down. He looked unconscious. Some blood was to see, near his head. Before she could react, she saw how Sasha suddenly disconnected herself from the wall, running and falling it down.

‟Sasha!" She shot one of the hooks, directly through Samuels leg, preventing him from falling, while she connected herself with the wall again.

‟Samuel! Don't move!", she said loudly, her eyes widened in shock.

‟That was close...", Eren said, his voice shocked and unbelieving.

‟Is that the one? The Colossal Titan? The one who destroyed the gate from Shiganshina? ", Riven asked. She tried her best to stay as calm, as she could.

‟It is", Eren simply explained, before he gasped. Riven followed his view, and shortly shook her head, as she didn't believe it at first.

‟The gate's...broken...", Thomas said slowly, unbelieving.

‟Again. The Titan's will come in again!", Connie exclaimed. His voice was filled with panic, fear.

Riven saw images from the past battles against these Titans. The whole situation reminded her of her last battle. Hanging from a gate, fighting of these giants. She heard the screams of fleeing people, the panic. She saw how..they got eaten by them.

'I will not allow them, to destroy this world as well! Not again!' She clenched her fists, and prepared her swords for battle. She heard how Eren did the same thing.

‟Ready the artillery! Four groups! Prepare for battle!", he screamed loudly. His voice was filled with hatred, anger. ‟The target's right in front of us! It's the Colossal Titan! This is our chance! Don't let it slip away!" He climbed up the wall, using the maneuver gear.

‟Mina! Inform HQ immediately! We need reinforcements! And we need them fucking fast! Sasha! Bring Samuel away! He needs medical attention!", Riven ordered them. She disconnected one hook from the wall, and climbed the walls up again as well. Shooting one hook after another to slowly getting higher and higher.

She landed besides Eren, shortly got down on her knees because of the fall.

‟Hello there...it's been five years", Eren slowly said. His voice calm, like the silence before a storm.

‟Let's take him out, Eren. Without him, they can't break the walls anymore", Riven stated, and cracked her neck. One year of training, losing an entire world. She felt more than ready for this.

'Payback time..'


	7. Battle of Trost

**Chapter 6 **

**Battle of Trost**

The short moment of silence, was surprisingly unfitting. Riven and Eren stood there for a moment, looking at this giant Titan. He was disgusting in his own way. They could see his bones which protected his brain, the muscles in his face, the teeth which formed a strange grin. It was like a mad man skinned everything else away. But, unlike other Titans, beside of that, he looked strangely humanoid. The physical proportions seemed to fit together.

Riven shortly looked besides the Titan. In the distance, she already spotted how more Titans were coming closer to the entrance. Some were incredibly fast, while others just seemed to slowly walk towards it. 'Shit...so many of them are already here?', Riven thought. She tightened the grip around her swords.

‟What..is he doing?", Eren asked surprised. Riven looked back again. The Titan moved his complete upper body, raising one of his giant hands. Riven immediately grabbed Eren's jacket and nearly threw him forward, towards the edge of the wall.

‟Jump!", Riven shouted loudly. They both jumped down off the wall simultaneously, just as the Titan's hand hit the wall. Riven shot out her grapple-hooks connecting herself with the giant. While she swung around him, she looked back to the wall. She saw how cannons and the rail systems were completely destroyed. Parts of the wall were damaged too.

'It aimed for the cannons..our first line of defense...', she thought with a mix of shock and unbelieving. There was only one possibility. He targeted the gate, the cannons, in short everything important. 'He's... intelligent.' This insight was more shocking, than anything else. Up to this point, Riven thought about the Titans as mindless beasts, mostly following their instincts. But, this one...he was somehow different then the others.

Anyway, she didn't have much time to think about it. The Titan looked to his right side, where Riven was in the air. He raised one of his hands, trying to grab and kill her. His movements seemed to be rather slow, predictable. Riven let herself fall down a bit, and aimed for his arm. Quickly, she grabbed behind her, using more of her gas for higher speed.

Riven swung around his arm, landing on it. She quickly found her balance, and ran towards his nape. Through the whole smoke, and some strange white steam the Titan seemed to blow off, she saw how Eren did the same thing on the other arm. ‟Woah..woah!", Riven yelled in surprise, as the Titan moved his arms. It looked like he was just swinging them around, trying to shuffle them off.

Riven shot her hook again, aiming close to his nape. She felt how the hook connected itself to it. She was now behind the Titan, but because of her momentum, she swung behind him in a half circle. The same thing happened to Eren, which barely past her a few feet above her head.

‟Let's get him!", they both screamed at the same time. Besides, each other they reeled themselves towards his nape, which was clearly visible as this spot wasn't covered by any muscles or skin.

But, just as they hit his nape and did the cut, something strange happened. The Titan slowly got down onto his knees. ‟The hell!", Riven screamed in surprise. Just where their swords had hit him, boiling hot steam was blown off. Eren and herself were kicked away from him, and were sent flying like some kind of balloon. The steam blocked their view nearly entirely. Riven shortly needed to close her eyes, due to the wind and heat.

‟It burns!", Riven shouted.

‟Let's go!", Eren screamed back. Riven slowly opened her eyes again, and with pure willpower she pushed the buttons at her sword to reel herself towards the nape again, Eren directly beside her. They both yelled with hatred.

But, just as they wanted to make the cut again, all they hit was air. The steam lifted before them, showing that nothing was left of the Titan. Riven immediately felt, how she started to fall down as her connection was lost. More because of pure instinct, she aimed for the wall, firing the grapple-hooks and connected herself to it. Erin nearly crashed into the wall, close to her.

‟He just...vanished?", Riven asked confused. Her view wandered down, to the earth. She saw his giant footprints before the gate. ‟He just...disappeared into thin air?"

‟Did you get him?", Thomas Wagner asked them from above the walls.

‟No! It's just the same as five years ago! He disappeared, just as suddenly as he appeared", Eren replied loudly. They could clearly hear his anger about it in his voice.

‟How is that even possible? That's a fucking sixty meter giant", Riven asked, unbelieving. The only think Riven could think about, was that someone teleported or summoned him away. But, that was impossible due to the fact, that this world didn't have any magic. 'The hell is going on?'

‟I don't know...let's go back on the wall", Eren answered plainly. Together they pulled themselves up the walls, landing beside Thomas and Connie.

‟I'm sorry..I let him get away", Eren quietly said. He seemed to be frustrated, annoyed.

‟No time for that", Riven stated and looked back, to the outside world. ‟We've got far bigger concerns right now."

‟She's right", Connie added. He sounded slightly nervous, it was pretty obvious that he tried his best, to stay as calm as he could. ‟The Wall's been breached. If we don't find a way to fix it quickly, the Titans will come in again."

‟Then what are you waiting for?", someone said. One of the garrison officers, just landed on the wall, his swords readied. The four of them quickly stood at attention, hands at their hearts. ‟The strategy for handling a Colossal Titan's appearance is already in motion!" Besides him more soldiers of the garrison landed, everyone ready for combat. ‟Return to HQ immediately! Anyone who had contact with him, report every single detail!"

‟Sir? I should stay he..", Riven started, but was harshly interrupted by the commander of the unit.

‟No! Even though you and your unit is a special thing, we got clear orders to send every one of you back to HQ! Now go!", the commander said hastily. Some of the Garrison soldiers started to run towards the edge of the wall, manning the few remaining cannons.

Riven shortly crunched her teeth, but nodded then. ‟Alright, sir." The officer nodded, and followed the rest of his soldiers into combat.

‟I pray for your success", Connie added, nervously. Riven shortly looked to her side. Even Eren seemed to be slightly..uneasy about this.

'This will be tough...'

**Fifteen minutes later...**

Riven quickly ran down the stairs, she nearly stumbled once as she missed one step. She was on her way down into the gas storage room, to refill her supplies for the battle, which would come. Together with Eren and the others, she gave the commanders a short report of the events from the gate. All of them were dismissed rather quickly, it only took them about five minutes.

Outside of the HQ building, hell was let loose. On their way back over the roofs of the giant city, they heard the bells which signaled everyone to fall back behind the safer inner gates. Riven never saw that many people who were on the run. Not even during her time in Ionia nor during the battle of Piltover. Screaming of children and grown up alike, filled the streets. All of them could only flee through one rather small gate. It would take some time for everyone to evacuate. Soldiers were already outside, trying to organize the evacuation. It was a complete chaos.

But, the more prominent sound wasn't the screaming and the panic. It was the constant noise of cannons which were fired. The vanguard started to engage the Titans in direct combat, and with the few cannons they had left a bit above the gate on the outside. It was clear, that they wouldn't stop them for long. All they did was buying more time for everyone.

Riven somehow felt...stressed. She could fight the Titans. She did it so many times, one more battle wouldn't count. But, there was this primal fear, which implanted itself into her heart. The fear of being brutally slaughtered and eaten. The fear that her beloved ones would die. 'I can't let this happen...', Riven thought, and crunched her teeth. 'Not again...'

As Riven entered the cellar of the storage room, it was crowded. Soldiers and recruits alike were running around, filling their gases, preparing themselves. One of the officers shouted orders, overshadowing the noise. She saw fear in the eyes of the recruits, but also in the eyes of fully trained soldiers. 'Nobody here is ready for something like this...'

Riven ran towards one of giant gas tanks. She dropped her equipment, and took one of the gas cylinders, starting to refill it. She needed to be careful with it. The supply squads would deliver new gas cylinders during the battle, but it would take some time to reach every position. 'I'll better be spare with that', she thought.

‟Riven? Glad you made it", Diana said behind her, her voice sounded relieved. Riven felt a hand on her shoulder, and shortly looked to the side. Diana smiled for a moment, but her whole body showed her tension.

‟I don't go down that easily", Riven replied slightly amused.

‟Well, jumping on top of a sixty meter Titan, isn't something someone does every day." Diana shortly grinned. ‟Be careful, alright?" Diana's voice switched to more worried, as well as her facial expression showed her worries.

Riven put down the first gas cylinder, and grabbed the second one. She nodded. ‟Same thing goes for you..." Riven felt how Diana gave her a short kiss on the cheek. Riven shortly smiled happily.

‟Well, that was cute", Irelia suddenly said from behind them. Riven shortly blushed, before she looked over her shoulder. Irelia was already fully dressed in maneuver gear, her blades by her side. Even though, she wouldn't need it, she still carried plug in blades around with her. ‟Anyway, first battle huh?"

‟Yeah. I would say..we win this fight quickly. I don't want to waste that much time, sitting around within the city walls. We kick their butts, and then celebrate our victory", Riven answered rather loudly. She tried to sound relaxed and calm. She knew that some recruits have heard her, just what she wanted. Morale was everything in such a fight.

‟That's the spirit, Riven", Irelia replied amused. Her swords twirled around themselves, like they were already impatient. ‟Anyway, I'll wait upstairs. We're supposed to collect ourselves up there. Something like a plan is going on. Not that it would matter." Irelia turned around, and walked upstairs.

Riven shortly shook her head. ‟Well, she definitely changed during the years, didn't she?"

‟Yep. I think it's Vi's influence on her", Diana replied amused. ‟Alright, I'll go up too. See you there." Diana then followed Irelia upstairs, together with a stream of other people.

Riven quickly finished her gas refilling, and put them back onto the metal blade sheaths. She put them back onto her thighs, and checked every belt again. Everything sat perfectly in place. Quickly, she ran upstairs, shortly nodding at Mikasa who put on her own gear.

The main place of the whole HQ, was already crowded. Most recruits were standing around here, together with the trained soldiers of Valoran. Some combat summoners were here too, even though not that much. It looked like the failure of their magic, was getting slightly stronger. 'We need to stop this quickly', Riven thought.

‟Attention!", one of the soldiers said. It was a man who stood on something like a small stone pedestal, overlooking the whole bunch of soldiers and recruits. His name was Kitts Woerman. The whole courtyard went went silent, and the soldiers got into position in a square. Everyone had a place. Hands behind their backs, they all stood at attention, listening to their commanding officer.

‟You recruits have completed training and graduated into fully proper soldiers, and because of that you all will participate in this operation! Just like in training, split up into your individual squads. Every 104th trainee squad, will have one soldier from the First Special Squad with them! They are veterans as they fought the Titans numerous times before. Everyone of you will be under Garrison command", Kitts yelled loudly at them.

'That's a rather good decision', Riven thought for a moment. 'So that's why we all should come back to HQ...' Kitts then continued.

‟Your duties are to assist in providing supplies, communication, and sweeping up the Titans! The first line of defense will be the frontline unit of the Garrison! The second line will be the cadet squads under our command! The rearguard will be the Garrison's elite units, together with the combat summoners! We've already received word that the vanguard has been annihilated!"

There was a short murmur, who went through the crowd. 'What the hell?', Riven thought for a second. 'The situation just got a lore more worse.' She clenched her fists, behind her back, and continued to listen.

‟The outer gate was destroyed, and Titans have entered the city! This means that the Armored Titan might show up any moment to breach the inner gate!"

Another murmur went through the crowd. Riven shortly looked to her left and right. The recruits were filled with fear. Panic. That wasn't a good starting position for a fight like this.

‟Silence!", Kitts yelled to suppress the noise. ‟The frontline guards are already in combat! The one goal of this defensive operation is to defend Wall Rose until every civilian has evacuated! Also, in case you forgot, let me remind you that desertion is a capital offense! Vow on your hearts to devote your lives! Dismissed!"

With a loud shout, the entire unit saluted. Then everyone started running, organizing themselves within their squads, and going to their position within the city. Diana ran towards her, together with Irelia.

‟What kind of 'vanguard' is that?", Irelia quietly complained. ‟They couldn't hold the line for an hour? What kind of weaklings are those?!"

‟Shh..", Diana interrupted her, and looked around. ‟Don't say something like this."

‟But, it's true!", Irelia hissed, but lowered her voice. ‟Even we could hold them off for longer..without this gear."

‟They're all scared to death...", Riven quietly said, and looked around for a moment. She spotted how Jean loudly argued with Eren. On the walls, some recruits sat, heads on their knees. Some were just sitting on the ground, staring blankly into the sky. ‟Anyway, focus on the mission for now."

‟Diana?", a man suddenly said behind them. They shortly stopped with their conversation, and looked at him. Riven remembered the name of this man. Ian Dietrich, one of the garrison commanders. ‟You were specially assigned to the rear guard. Follow me."

‟I really should fight on the frontline, and not in the back", Diana contradicted, and clenched her fists.

‟Orders from above. Also, General Sky has agreed with this", Ian said calmly. ‟Follow me now. Ackerman, will come with us, too." Diana shortly looked to her side, trying to hide her rather frustrated, angry face from the officer. She looked at Riven for a moment.

‟Be careful...", she mumbled quietly, with a sigh.

‟See you later...", Riven replied confidently, and gave her a short kiss on the lips, smiling. Diana returned it for a moment, before she followed Ian through the court. Somehow...it felt like a goodbye. Riven shook her head. She shouldn't think about something like that. They were in far more battles than this one. She felt Irelia's hand on her shoulder.

‟Will be fine. I'm assigned to the squad next to you and Eren's. If you need support, we will be there", Irelia explained her calmly.

‟Alright. Let's get this done", Riven replied, and ran out of the HQ. For a split second, she thought about taking her rune sword with her. She could easily take it with her, wearing it on her back like she once did.

'It's no use, Riven. The runic energy seemed to be drained out of the blade, and I have no way to stop it. You better start to use this regular swords...because your rune sword is now only a piece of scrap metal.' She heard Sky's voice in her head. This statement was nearly three months ago. She discarded the idea. It would only be in here way.

When she stepped out of the HQ, she used her three dimensional gear, reaching the roofs and going on to her position and squad.

**A few minutes later...**

Riven stood on top of one of the many roofs of the city. A building like everyone else, a street under them just like every other within the city. The few members of her unit were behind her, all of them were trainees from the 104th. Or how Noxian field commanders would call them: ‟Fresh meat for the war machines."

‟Eh...could I ask you something?", one of them asked her. Riven looked over her shoulder. The young blond haired soldier, seemed to be rather nervous.

‟Speak freely, Felix", she answered him with an encouraging smile. She tried her best to look like a veteran soldier before them, radiate a sense of calm.

‟How...well..how was it fighting the Titans? Back in your homeland?", he asked.

Riven shortly thought about the question. She took a deep breath. ‟Fighting them is just like any other battle. The only difference is that they're bigger and a bit scarier, than your average humanoid opponent."

She turned around to her squad. Like she did during her Noxian army time, Riven had taken the time to learn every single name of them. Felix, Celina, Leonie, Alexander, Arthur. 'Leading a unit again, huh? This time.. I will be more careful', Riven thought grimly.

For a moment she remembered her drill instructor. She couldn't remember the man, but his words were branded into her brain. She raised her voice again, speaking calmly.

‟You know...my instructor back in the army always told me to stay focused. You need to focus on the target, on your mission. Discard any useless human emotion for this moment. The key is that you don't let the fear overwhelm you. If you start to panic, the enemy has already won. Keep your cool, stay at the mission. If you do this, your chance of survival is significantly higher. Forget everything around you. Now you're doing your job which is killing Titans and defending this city", Riven explained to them.

‟Well, we should consider this here as a chance for us", Alexander threw in. The other looked at him confused. ‟Hey, if we win here and survive, there is a good chance that we jump of the ladder. Being a Garrison commander has some advantages, you know?"

‟Only if you can cut at least one Titan", Riven replied amused.

‟You'll better start counting than", Leonie interrupted. She cracked her neck, and threw her swords, preparing herself.

‟Oh, you want to count now? Alright, fine by me", Riven said, grinning and turned around to face the city again. ‟The one who kills the fewest Titans, buys us a round in a nice inn. And I will count every single one!" Some of her unit laughed quietly.

Riven looked over her shoulder, and smiled encouraging at her comrades. Even though they were still slightly nervous, they seemed to be more confident. 'Being nervous is normal...we can win', Riven thought, and tightened the grip around her handgrips.

‟Squad 32, advance! Assist the frontline guards immediately!", one of the garrison soldiers yelled at them, from another roof. Everywhere in the city were posts from them. Spyglasses within their hands, they reported every movement to the high command, and they gave orders for every unit. With that structure, they could easily react in every part of the city, and didn't need to wait for new orders from HQ.

‟Alright! Here we go! Attack!" Riven shouted. Her entire unit yelled loudly, it always helped to overcome fear and nervousness. They started to run, towards the edge of the roof and jumped off.

Riven targeted one of the many chimneys, and shot one of her grapple-hooks towards it. Moving inside the city was more complicated than on the outside. They need to target the bell towers, chimneys, the highest floors of buildings. But, luckily the city was more or less built that there was always something to reach for them. Someone had planned everything perfectly through. The city was built to fight within its borders.

'Very good architects', Riven thought, while she landed on a roof. Without stopping, she used the momentum of her high speed, running over it, jumping off the edge, to land on another smaller stone building with a flat roof. She jumped from it high in the air, and shot the hooks again, flying between the high buildings.

Turning around in midair, Riven targeted another chimney, to get more height to get a clearer view of her surroundings.

Shortly she looked around. Her unit was closely behind her, following her through the city. Running, jumping, flying with an insane tempo. If they kept this up, they could cross the entire city within a few minutes. In the distance she shortly saw other moving objects, most likely Eren's unit which advanced too.

‟Titans! In front of us!", Felix suddenly yelled. Riven looked forward again. At least four Titans were there, directly before them. Two of them were fifteen meter classes, the other two about seven meters. They could handle this. 'Here we go...', Riven thought.

‟They're already this advanced this far?", Celina shouted surprised, a bit fearful. ‟What are the frontline guards doing?"

‟Don't matter to us! Let's take them out! Felix! Alexander! Leonie! Take on the smaller ones! I'll handle the fifteen meter ones on the right side! Arthur! Celina! Distract them for me! But, don't get caught, you get this?! Keep your eyes peeled!", Riven shouted back.

‟I'll do! But, be fast will you?", the boy yelled at her. He flew directly in front of the Titan, swinging around a chimney, to lure the Titan away.

‟Got this!", Celina yelled too. She swung around another bell tower, aiming for the second fifteen meter one. Luckily, the Titans were dump enough to follow such 'easy' targets around. The three others of her unit, started to fly a bit deeper through the city streets in order to engage the seven meter class Titans.

Riven used her momentum, and swung around a bell tower, landing on the roof of another building. She didn't waste time and started to run, jumping over small gaps between the buildings or using her gear to cross streets. Arthur lured the Titan away from her, so that he showed her his nape. He was an easy target.

At one point, Riven jumped down from the roofs, and flew between the buildings, aiming for the highest floor of them. She only saw her surroundings as a washed mixture of colors. Her whole body was focused on the one thing. Killing this Titan before he could do any damage.

Then, she was in reach. She shot both hooks, aiming for the nape, and they both hit the target. With a wild scream, she reeled herself towards the Titan. She felt the pressure as her gear worked in nearly every muscle of her entire body. Shortly before she hit the nape with her feet, Riven cut out the flesh of his nape, using both of her swords. The Titan under her immediately crumbled, and started to fall down onto the ground. Riven jumped off from him, aiming for another chimney.

She landed relatively rude on the roof tiles, as she was far too fast. Some of the shingles were falling down on the street. ‟Ouch..", she complained. Riven slowly got up, rubbing her back and legs. Arthur landed beside her, breathless, sweated. He looked like he just saw a void creature.

‟You've made it..you killed one! But, don't use me again as a distraction", he said. His voice was unbelieving, fascinated, impressed. Riven rubbed over her forehead, and took a deep breath. She felt the adrenaline within her body, her hands slightly shook from it. This was it. This was the place where she belonged. At least she thought like this for a moment, before she heard screams.

‟RIVEN! HELP ME!" Riven immediately looked up again. Celina...one Titan had grabbed her and held her within his fingers. Celina struggled within his fingers, but she couldn't use her blades, as the Titan held her arms within his grip. Another seven meter class. He looked completely disfigured. His mouth was far too big for his head, together with his giant eyes.

‟He must have hidden himself somewhere!", Arthur yelled loudly in shock. Riven didn't waste time. She got up, and started to run.

‟CELINA!", she screamed, jumping from the roof. She aimed for another chimney, close to the Titan and reeled herself towards it with everything she got. The forces which acted on her whole body were nearly painful.

She disconnected herself midair, and aimed for the arm of the Titan, hitting it. With a battlecry, Riven reeled towards his hands. She cut over his fingers, releasing Celina from his grip. ‟Get out of here! Fall back to our old position!", Riven ordered her. She disconnected herself from the arm, jumping down from the giant, landing on a close by roof.

Celina was already back on her feet. Her face showed pure horror, her eyes were wet from tears. Arthur landed on the same roof, his swords ready. ‟Arthur! Lead her back to our position! It's too dangerous to stay here!", Riven ordered him.

‟Alright..you'll be fine..follow me", he said quietly to the horrified girl. They started to run, jumping down from the roof, and falling back.

Riven took a short moment to look around. The Titan under her, was already regenerating his lost fingers. She didn't have the time to play around with him, so she aimed for another high tower, reeling herself towards it after the hooks attached themselves to the stone wall. She searched for the rest of her unit, as well as the other fifteen meter Titan. She lost sight on him, it was like he just disappeared.

She spotted her squad, as they were flying around one single Titan, trying to make the cut. The Titan was surprisingly fast and agile. 'An abnormal one?', Riven thought. She felt how sweat was running down her face. Her squad was fast enough to avoid too much contact with him, but he didn't give up and always tried to catch them midair, like someone tried to smash a fly. But, there were only two persons left.

Riven reached her unit. ‟Where's Alexander?", she asked. But, she already knew the answer.

‟Dead!", Leonie screamed back. Her voice quivered slightly, while she avoided the Titan's grip again. ‟One Titan grabbed his steel wire midair, and pulled him down..we couldn't..we couldn't do anything!"

Riven forced herself not to think about it. She needed to be an example for this new recruits. She needed to stay focused on the goal.

‟You two then! Fall back to our old position! We ca..." Riven was interrupted, because she didn't believe what she saw now. The fifteen meter Titan didn't disappear...he walked hunched over through the streets. Deep enough that someone couldn't spot him from the air, where they operated normally. In a split second he jumped out from his hiding.

Riven landed on top of a roof. The Titan landed close to her, and stood up. He slowly turned around to her...and he had Felix in his mouth. His lower body was between the giant teeth of this monster. Riven just looked at Felix. She didn't feel anything, but her eyes were widened in horror. He raised one of his hands, like he tried to reach her. The Titan swallowed him down.

‟Felix!", Leonie screamed in shock. The short moment in which she didn't pay enough attention to the other Titan, was enough for him. His hand grabbed her leg, nearly ripping it out from her body. The girl screamed in pain, and fear.

‟Leonie! Felix!", Riven screamed, her voice sounded shocked. The Titan didn't waste much time, he nearly stuffed the girl into his mouth and swallowed her down, before Riven could react. She was alone now. Riven felt a rage within her. A burning hatred, which kicked away any rational thinking.

‟DIE YOU FUCKERS!", Riven screamed. Her mind was empty. Hatred had replaced everything within her head. She didn't care about her mission, she didn't care about keeping her cool, and to stay focused. There was only one thing she wanted. Killing every single Titan within this city.

She shot her grapple-hooks, using nearly all of her gas. She didn't care about it. With an insane speed, she flew between the buildings, under small bridges, through the few trees within the city. She once nearly touched the ground, when she flew along one bridge. She felt how some leaves cut over her cheek, when she crushed through a tree. But, she didn't feel any pain.

Out of one side alley, a Titan suddenly snapped at her like a crocodile. The sudden painfully hit and abrupt movement, let her lose control of her maneuver gear. As she tried to shoot out the second wire, it didn't connect itself to the building. Without any other connection, she was just falling down onto the ground.

Her fall was softened, by some market booths, in which she crashed. She shortly rolled around on the ground, before she came to a halt. She felt pain in every bone and muscle. Tears were running down her cheeks. She felt a burning pain within her left leg, a pain she had never felt before. Breathing was rather hard. She guessed that at least one rib was broken. ‟Shit...", Riven pressed out. Her swords were broken from the hard fall.

'Need to get away from here...', she thought, as she heard and saw how two Titans were coming closer to her. Slowly Riven tried to get up into a kneeling position, but she just fell over to her left side, hitting the pavement again. 'The hell?'

Her mind wasn't able to handle this. The shock was strong enough to ease most of the pain. Her eyes widened in unbelieving, when she saw it. They wandered down on her body to her left leg...it was missing. From her knee on..there was nothing left. Blood dripped onto the ground, and she saw reddish bone fragments.

'Focus..focus...the League can replace your leg..they sure can do that...', she forced herself to think this. She knew that! Viktor had replaced nearly every part of his body with metal. He or some other engineer could replace it.

'First things first...need to get away from here..' Riven felt how blood was wandering over her nose and face. She felt rather dizzy. 'Must be because of the blood loss..', she thought. Slowly she tried to get into a position, in which she could use the maneuver gear to reach the roofs. There she could possibly hide somewhere safe or somewhere where soldiers could find her.

She pushed the buttons at her handgrips...and nothing happened. She did it again, and again. But, it was a futile attempt. Her gear was broken, she couldn't escape anymore. She was damned to 'walk' on the streets.

Riven screamed. It was a scream of hatred, unbelieving, frustration. Furious, she looked to the two Titans which came closer to her. She already felt how the ground was shaking under their steps. Without any more hesitation, she dropped the broken blades and replaced them with new, sharp ones.

She used one of her swords to slowly get up into a standing position, using it as a walking aid. ‟I can't give up just yet..." Riven raised her other sword in the air, just as one of the Titans grabbed her, and lift her up in the air in the direction of his mouth. ‟I will protect this world! Do you listen?! I will not allow you to destroy it! I will kill every single one of your kind! Even if I need to do this with my bare hands!"

With tears in her eyes, and a scream on her lips, she cut over the fingers of the Titan. He released her from his grip, dropping her back onto the ground. She fell a few meters down onto the ground, hitting it again. She screamed in pain, as she felt how more bones were broken.

The Titan grabbed her again, this time she didn't have the strength to fight back anymore. She raised one of her hands, clenched in a fist. ‟Diana...I will not fail..I will not die here! I will protect this world!"

Then everything around her, turned into a yellowish-green light. Riven shortly felt how she was falling, before her feet touched the ground again. Then, she didn't know anymore.

* * *

**Author's Note**

Oh, yes, I did it. I guess everyone knows what has happened here. Anyway...next chapter will contain some Mikasa/Diana action! The battle of Trost has just begun! :P


	8. Reborn Pt 1

**Author's Note**

I tried something new here, giving the fighting against the Titans a bit of an anime feeling. Hope you like it! And Riven is back! More or less. You'll get it when you read it.

**Chapter 7 **

**Reborn Pt. 1 **

Diana slowly walked towards the edge of the roof, and looked down. The whole street was still crowded with hundreds of people, which screamed in panic, pushing and yelling at each other. Soldiers within the crowd tried their best to keep everything in order, but it was a fruitless attempt. Everyone was just trying to get away. Diana couldn't blame them. The Titans were merciless.

Luckily, it wasn't her job to keep everything under control. She wasn't that good with handling crowds, or in general with other people. Slowly, she turned around from the edge and walked back on top of the roof, overlooking the whole city and rear guard area.

This part of the city was built in a very strict order. Even more than the other parts of Trost. The whole area was built in squares, with long straight streets in order to allow easy movement. The buildings itself were sometimes connected with smaller stone bridges, which didn't serve any purpose and were only there for soldiers to utilize their maneuver gear.

Most houses in this area were pretty high. Four or even six floors, some buildings were easily higher than fifteen meters. Nearly all roofs were connected somehow, and soldiers could easily pass them without much effort. Whoever built this part of the town..he planned it as an ideal combat areal.

Even though their job was rather important, Diana felt slightly...underutilized. During the past hours, they did nothing more than patrolling the roofs of this area. The problem wasn't the normal Titans, which could easily be lured away by a few people. The bigger concern for them right now, were the abnormal ones. Titans which..well..acted abnormal and unusual. Some jumped over the roofs or climbed up onto them. They were by far the most dangerous enemy. But, not even a single one appeared.

Diana leaned herself against a chimney, and looked into the distance. ‟Any news from the middle guard...sir?", she asked Ian Dietrich, which was in charge of her squad. The whole thing with salutes, sir, and so on was still not easy for her. For Diana it was all a bunch of useless stuff and gestures.

‟The last report was that some of the squads engaged Titans in direct combat. Other forward posts reported Titan movement within this part of the city", Ian answered her in his calm voice. ‟Everyone prepare yourself for combat. We need to protect the civilians. Everything else doesn't matter."

Diana shortly bit her underlip. So, Riven was already in combat. She still felt annoyed by the simple fact, that she couldn't be there to protect her. She shortly remembered their time in Ionia, how they both heard and saw the ghosts of the fallen Fury Company. How one of them asked her to watch out for Riven. 'Failing all over again...damn military...', she shortly thought grimly.

She pushed herself from the chimney again, and slowly walked over the roof in an idle gesture. Suddenly, she felt a gust of wind, playing with her shortened silver hair. The sky started to change its colors, as more and more clouds were to see. Dark, and thick clouds, which would bring rain over the battlefield. The sun started to disappear.

Diana looked into the distance again, stopping her walking. When the wind hit her, she felt something. It was like...something terrible just happened. It wasn't a rational or logical thought, even summoners wouldn't be able to describe it. It was more a feeling within her gut. A dark, grim feeling.

Some people claiming that they can feel the feelings of their brother, sister, twin..or beloved ones. That they had some form of deep connection. For Diana it was nothing more than talking...but..well. 'Why do I feel so bad then?'

Shortly her eyes wandered to her side, where she spotted Mikasa. She looked into the distance too, her red scarf was flying in the wind. Mikasa slowly turned around, looking back at her.

‟You felt something too, didn't you?", Diana asked her calmly. She knew, that this was a strange question to ask someone. But, Mikasa seemed to understand, and nodded.

‟Yes. Like..something terrible just happened at this very moment. But...I wouldn't be able to describe it...you too?", she asked her calmly.

‟A feeling in the gut...", Diana shortly sighed. ‟I'm just hoping that Riven is fine. All kinds of stuff happens always when I don't have an eye on her."

‟Well, it's the same thing with Eren", Mikasa said with a short smile, before she sighed. ‟You two are something special aren't you?"

‟I'm honest here..she's my beloved", Diana answered calmly. Riven and her weren't sure what this world would think about such a relationship, so they tried to keep it a secret. But, well..half of the 104th knew it anyway. Mikasa didn't seem surprised.

‟Anyone with eyes could see that", she replied shortly, and shrugged slightly.

‟What's with you and Eren? He's your brother right?", Diana asked in a conversational tone.

‟Adoptive brother..", Mikasa answered thoughtfully. ‟His...family took care of me..after..things happened."

‟It's okay", Diana instantly replied, as she saw that Mikasa seemed to feel...uneasy to talk about this topic. ‟We both have people at the frontlines, which we don't want to lose huh?"

‟I accepted it. But, I still feel uneasy about it. Without me Eren...has the attitude to run into trouble", Mikasa said worried. Before Diana could say anything else, one soldier interrupted them loudly.

‟Titans are closing in!", he yelled from another roof in front of them. ‟At least two targets approaching this position!" Diana looked into the distance again, following the view of the soldier. There she spotted them. At least the moving heads of the Titans, as most parts of their bodies were hidden by the buildings.

'Ugly bastards..', she thought, and readied her swords for combat. She felt uneasy about the fact, that she needed to leave behind her iconic weaponry, but it was far too big to use it with the three dimensional gear. And even though she could move on the roofs and through the city without it...she still had a limit.

‟We need to lure them away, before they reach the gate. Let's go!", Ian barked at them.

‟I think it's even better if we kill them", Diana replied sarcastically, and started to run over the roofs. Without thinking, she jumped over the gaps between the roofs, using her maneuver gear in combination with her Lunar Rush ability. With the latter one she could easily outmaneuver even the best garrison soldiers, as she wasn't dependent on momentum or a target to aim at.

‟Hey you ugly thing! Get over here!", she shouted at one of the Titans. Other soldiers arrived too, flying directly before its face. But, it seemed to ignore them all. Instead, it continued to run towards the crowd of humans before the gates. ‟Abnormal one!"

Still in the air and flying Diana turned around using her momentum. She felt how her feet shortly touched a chimney and for a split second she stood there, nearly vertical to the streets. With a shout, she pushed herself away from the chimney using her Lunar Rush. She heard how stones trembled behind her because of her magic.

It gave her all the speed she needed to slowly catch up to the Titan, flying within the street canyon. She used her gear without thinking. One hook out, short moment of flying, shooting another one, pulling the first one back. It was an endless repetition.

Then she was in range. She loaded up one of her blades with Lunar energy, hoping that it would hold the magic for a moment. These weapons weren't made for magical strain. With a scream she released the bolt of energy, hitting the Titan directly into his nape. He stumbled. 'Time to finish this.'

She was nothing more than a flash of silver light. She cut out the nape of these giant in one fluid movement, a move so fast the human eyes weren't able to catch it. She pushed herself away from the Titan, doing a back roll midair, and elegantly landed on her feet on another roof.

She checked the blade from which she fired the lunar bolt. It was blunted, and useless. She dropped it onto the roof, and took another one from the metal sheath, while looking around in search for the second target. It was nowhere to see.

‟Where's the second one?", she asked loudly.

‟Ackerman took it out! Never saw someone that fast", one soldier answered her. Diana nodded shortly. She passed two street canyons in search for her, and spotted Mikasa closer to the gate.

'The hell?', Diana thought and looked at it. The whole gate was blocked, by some overloaded carriage. People were standing around, but it was surprisingly quiet. Diana spotted one single person who held her sword against the throat of one older looking man who stood near the carriage. 'Mikasa.'

She couldn't understand what they were talking, but the merchant obviously ordered his man to pull the carriage away. 'About time...we have wasted so much of it', Diana thought grimly, and turned around looking into the distance. Then she felt the first rain drop on her head. In a mere seconds the rain was getting stronger, and she soaked. With that the bad feeling returned within her gut.

Diana heard the well known sound of a steel wire, which was pulled back, boots which hit the roof. ‟Never saw someone who moves like this", Mikasa then spoke.

‟Well, I'm not good at using this gear..so I need to compensate somehow", Diana replied with a short chuckle and turned around to her. She was already wet from the top to the bottom.

‟Nice kills both of you", Ian suddenly said. He appeared on the roof, just behind Mikasa. He had put back his swords and seemed to be more relaxed than before. ‟I'm impressed."

‟Thanks. We just did our job, nothing more", Diana replied plainly. 'Even though I need to talk to Sky later on...need some new weaponry', she added in her head.

‟Thank you, sir. But, within the haste I blunted my blade in just one attack...I'll be more careful from now on", Mikasa said calmly and neutral, like she didn't do anything. Her swords hit the roof with a loud noise.

‟What in the world did you endure, to turn out like this?", Ian asked. He seemed to be shocked on the one side, curious on the other. ‟No, nevermind." He slowly started to walk away. ‟Everyone back on your position! We wait for the signal to retreat!"

With a sigh Diana put back her swords into the sheaths, and the handgrips under her jacket. Shortly she looked up to Mikasa, which had pulled up her scarf hiding most parts of her face behind it.

‟You're...alright?", Diana asked carefully. Mikasa shook her head subtly.

‟I'm fine...", Mikasa just answered thoughtfully. She seemed to be not present here, like she remembered things from her past. Mikasa slowly walked towards the edge of the roof, and looked over the city.

'What's up with her?', Diana thought, but she decided that if Mikasa would ever want to tell her, she would do it on her own. 'Better not pushing things...' She slowly walked back onto the top of the roof, and leaned against the chimney once more. She looked up and felt the rain, hitting her cheek.

And so they waited in silence with each other. The rain and weather was cold and harsh, making the roofs sloppy. It was easier now to fall down, and even with their gear, Titans would have an easier time to catch them.

The cold rain drops, which hit her, remembered her of Mount Targon. The cold, harsh winds and snow flakes which ruled the mountain during the winters. It felt the same. It was strange to remember stuff like this now. Maybe it was only natural in the face of death. Diana shook her head, and got back into the here and now. She didn't have the luxury of swelling in memories of her past.

She walked towards the edge, looking to her side and watched Mikasa carefully. The girl had something on her, what Diana couldn't classify. She distantly remembered her at herself. At least that's what Riven told her. 'Cold and emotionless on the outside..but within a rather warm, caring person.'

'Am I really like this?', Diana thought with a quiet sigh, and looked back over the city. She screwed up her eyes slightly. ‟Titan movement before us!", she reported loudly and already jumped down from the roof. She heard how Mikasa instantly followed her. It wasn't that easy to navigate now, as she thought it would be.

Diana used her momentum, as she swung around a chimney, shortly flying high in the air. She prepared her swords for another fight, during this short time. These Titans seemed to be normal ones. They looked dumb, walked slowly and were all in all your regular Titan. 'I'm already like this huh? Better not getting too cocky', Diana thought.

She passed another street canyon, using her maneuver gear. She directly passed one of the Titans, which was lured away by some soldier of the Garrison. Diana took both of her blades and cut over the nape of the Titan, cutting out the flesh, and continue her flying without stopping. She landed on a roof, nearly slipped from it, but she quickly found her stance.

A bell started to ring. The sound was clear and loud, everyone within the city could hear that. Diana looked back to the gate, which was getting closes slowly. That was their signal to retreat.

‟Everyone! We're pulling out! We're climbing the walls!", Ian ordered them loudly. Diana looked to the city.

'Not with me...', she thought grimly. ‟Go on with that! I'll cover the retreat of the remaining forces!", Diana shouted back, and with that she flashed away using her Lunar Rush. She didn't want to hear Ian's complaining or something like this. Out there were important persons for her. She would protect him, no matter the cost.

She heard how a grapple-hook hit a chimney, beside her. Diana looked over her shoulder and spotted Mikasa, which was close to her. ‟I'm coming with you too!", she said loudly.

‟You're welcome! Let's get them home safely!", Diana replied.

**A few minutes later...somewhere within Trost**

They both landed simultaneously on top of a bell tower, from which they had a good view over the city. The rain was slowly getting weaker, making moving through the air finally easier again. During her fall, Diana put back her blades into the sheath, and overlooked the city. She spotted some soldiers, closely to her position. They seemed to discuss something.

‟Why aren't they retreating by now? They should have heard the bells.." Diana frowned slightly.

‟I think we have a problem", Mikasa answered plainly, and pointed in the direction of the HQ building. Diana followed her hand. The building was surrounded by multiple Titans, all around seven to fifteen meter class ones. Some even managed to climb up on the castle like structure.

‟Damn it..you mean?", Diana said, and shortly knocked against her gas cylinders. If the gas ran out, moving through the air wasn't possible anymore. Without it the soldiers were easy prey for the Titans. Mikasa simply nodded.

‟But, what about the support squads? Wasn't it their job to deliver new gas to them?", Diana asked, and frowned.

‟I guess they have barricaded themselves within HQ after the Titans reached the building. But, first things first..", Mikasa stated more quietly. ‟Let's find Eren and Riven. Then we think about this situation." Diana nodded and they jumped down from the tower again. Just as they jumped the rain stopped.

After a moment of searching, they finally found some familiar faces. On top of another big roof, they spotted some soldiers sitting and standing around. Most of them looked pretty down, finished with the world. They looked down on the ground or up in the still dark sky. Both of them hit the roof at the same time. Mikasa didn't want much time and walked straight over to Annie, asking her where Eren is.

Diana herself took her time, looking around for a moment. The situation reminded her of the battle of Piltover in which she participated. Civilians and soldiers alike, sitting around doing absolutely nothing because of desperation and fear.

‟Do you know where Riven is?", she directly asked Jean, which still sat on the ground, rubbing his head.

‟You mean Eren's soulmate? I don't know about her. And we haven't seen anyone who climbed up the walls", Jean answered her. It sounded somehow annoyed.

‟Celina is over there though. She hadn't talked for a long time now", Connie added and pointed on another roof, not far away from them.

‟Thanks", Diana simply replied and jumped over to the other roof. She knew that Celina was part of Riven's squad. The bad feeling in her gut grew. 'It's fine...it's fine..' She hit the roof of the house, and slowly walked over to Celina. The girl just sat there, looking down. ‟Celina? Celina Weiß?"

The girl slowly looked up to her. Her eyes were tear-stained. She looked like she saw horrors beyond imagination. Diana swallowed hard, but stayed calm. She knelt down before the girl, pulling out a small piece of cloth and softly wiped away the tears. ‟It's fine...what..happened to you?"

‟You...you..you're Diana right? Riven's..Riven's...beloved?", Celina said. Her voice was quiet, every word she spoke sounded like she forced it out of her mouth.

‟I am. What's..?", Diana started, but she was interrupted by Armin's loud voice. He sounded nearly exactly like Celina.

‟Our unit...the 34th cadet unit...Thomas Wagner. Nic Tius. Mylius Ziramuski. Mina Carolina. Eren Yeager! All five of them have fulfilled their duty and died heroic deaths in battle!"

Diana's eyes widened and she looked back to Celina, which started to cry again. Everything within her tried to block it out, everything within her didn't want to believe it. Celina looked up to her again.

‟The 32th squad was completely wiped out too...Arthur Wolfheart, Alex Jaeger, Leonie Becker, Felix Flavius...Riven, the Exile...", Celina swallowed hard. ‟They're all dead...Arthur died on the way back..the others fought against the Titans...we saw from the distance how they got...eaten, killed..I..I..I...what could I DO?!" Celina grabbed at her head, and started to cry loudly.

Diana just stared at the girl. Her mind just didn't want to believe it. 'She...she's...dead...' She saw Riven's face before her inner eye. How she blushed, her smiling and laughing. She remembered how unsure she was at first...their first kiss in the Ionian gardens. 'Don't cry...not here...' She clenched her fists and got down on her knees, giving Celina a hand.

‟Stand up. Now is not the time to cry over the dead...this time will come soon enough", Diana said. She used her moon powers to hide her sadness. She knew that her eyes were shimmering silver, and that her crest was to see on her forehead. But, it would be better if she looked like a warrior from far away, then a sad and broken woman.

She looked over to Mikasa, which walked to the edge of the roof, raising one of her swords above her head. Her voice was loud and good to hear in the whole areal. But, Diana could see through this illusion of her. Mikasa acted, just like she was showing off her strength. 'Riven...' Diana felt a single tear running down her cheek, but she quickly wiped it away without anyone noticing.

‟I'm strong. Stronger than all of you. I am a warrior! I can kill all those Titans there! Even if I'm alone. You're either incompetent or spineless cowards. How pathetic. You can sit here and suck on your finger. Yeah, do that", Mikasa loudly stated.

‟Hey, Mikasa! What are you saying?", one of the cadets said.

‟You want to fight all those Titans by yourself?"

‟There's no way you can do that!"

‟Only the strong survive...", Diana said loudly, and turned around too. Her voice slightly echoed with power. ‟My Rakkor tribe had an old saying. If you don't fight, you can't win a war. Sitting around will change nothing. It never has! If you don't want to fight your nothing more than a bunch of cowards and weaklings! I will not sit around here. If I can kill them, I'll win and live. If not, then I'll die."

Diana shortly looked over to Mikasa, which simply nodded at her. They both jumped down from their roofs, and started to run and fly over the houses, ignoring the shouts of their comrades behind them. Just as Diana's feet touched another roof, another person fly over to them. ‟Found you!", Irelia loudly yelled.

‟Irelia!", Diana stated surprised, while she was moving. Irelia quickly followed them. Behind them, they heard a loud battlecry, as the cadets finally started to follow them.

‟Am I late? Valor was keeping me busy with all these movements here", another well known voice yelled.

‟Quinn! You're here too?"

‟Yeah! Valor had spotted some kind of recruits which were still in the city, so I thought I could show up and offer some help!", Quinn replied.

‟You're alright, Diana? Sorry. Couldn't come earlier..needed to get my recruits back to safety", Irelia quickly said.

Diana wasn't sure what to reply. Even a short thought about Riven's death, was a hard thing right now. But, she decided to play the tough girl for now. ‟I'm okay! Get to the cadets and protect them! They will need some help! We're trying to reach HQ for new supplies!"

‟Gotcha!", Quinn replied and fell back a bit, flying together with the recruits. Irelia simply nodded and switched her position too.

Diana didn't want anyone around her for now. She wanted to be alone...alone with her sadness. If she just wouldn't have listened to the command chain. If she just...her hands tightened around her handgrips. 'Die..die..every single one of you! Die!' She passed another Titan, and turned around midair. With a loud scream she released another bolt of lunar energy, blinding him.

Using her Lunar Rush, and the surrounding roofs she quickly got behind him, cutting out his nape. While still on the move, she dropped one sword and switched it out. She jumped over the street canyons. She knew she was using far too much gas, she knew that she already started to feel exhausted because of her constant using of her abilities.

She killed another Titan while on the run, using her Crescent Strike to cut out the flesh, instead of her swords. That was it. She couldn't do anything anymore, she heard how the last remaining gas was used by her gear. She felt the exhaustion within every single bone. 'Don't matter anymore...'

Diana just let herself fall down between the houses into some side alley. She heard screams, calling her name. With her last effort, she used her magic one more time, to dampen the fall slightly. With a loud noise, she crashed into some booth, and stayed there, lying on the ground, looking into the dark sky.

Slowly she got up from the ground, sitting on her knees. She just stared down onto the ground, and didn't move anymore. Every part of her body felt too heavy. She...was dead. The one person she had ever truly loved.

Both of her swords slowly slipped out of her hands, hitting the ground with an unfitting loud metallic noise. ‟Fuck...fuck...", Diana slammed her fist onto the ground, and felt the tears running down her cheeks. She couldn't hold them back anymore. She couldn't hold up the her cold warrior image. She was broken inside.

She had failed Riven. She had failed her unit. She gave them a promise, back in Ionia. Their ghosts appeared before them, speaking with them within the Valley. Diana swore back then to protect Riven, no matter the cost. Her tears dropped onto the ground.

Heavy steps came closer to her. Slow, steady. A Titan. From the feeling of the shaking ground at least a ten meter class, or even bigger. Diana couldn't fight anymore. There wasn't anything left within her. Exhausted, sad, broken. 'That's my proper punishment...getting killed here and now', Diana shortly thought.

'I'm sorry, Riven...I hope you can forgive me in the afterlife...I'm so sorry...' Diana rubbed over her eyes, and slowly raised her head one last time, looking into the face of her killer. The Titan, which would kill her. It looked...strange. In fact, it didn't look like any Titan Diana had ever seen before.

The Titan was...fourteen meter class one. But, she was...a female one? Diana didn't believe her eyes for a moment, and blinked multiple times. But, there was no mistake. The Titan had feminine forms. Most notably of course her breasts, and her face which clearly belonged to a woman. She had hazel brown eyes, around them was no skin, so Diana could directly see the muscles and flesh under it. Also, she could see the flesh at her left cheek.

The female giant had grayish-white, shoulder-length hair, which seemed to be very unusual amongst Titans. In fact she was the first Titan, where Diana ever saw this hair color.

The remaining proportions of her body seemed to fit perfectly together, she just looked like an oversized human. Even though a human, a madman had created. As Diana's eyes slowly wandered on over the body of the Titan, she saw that more skin was missing. Most notably was her left underarm, where Diana could see the muscles completely. But, it didn't look like the skin was missing. It looked more like a wound, like the skin couldn't regenerate properly in this area.

The Titan slowly stepped closer to her, but just as she was in reach to catch her, to eat her...she stopped. She looked down onto Diana, and Diana just stared back for a moment, looking into her eyes. Then she suddenly heard the loud roaring of another Titan, which simply broke through some kind of small wall on the back of the alley. Another fifteen meter class one.

Even though...he acted strange. The Titan didn't seem to notice her in any way, instead he seemed to be focused on the female one. She looked at the Titan for a moment, before letting out a loud angry roar. Diana covered her eyes, and shortly closed her eyes. She felt how the female Titan started to move, and for a moment Diana feared to be crushed under her feet. But, she simply passed her, avoiding any contact with her.

Diana quickly turned around, still sitting to see what the heck was going on. The female Titan attacked the other one. She punched him in his face, again and again. He slowly stumbled backwards, hitting the wall. The female one was surprisingly agile. She got back one step, and used a foot sweep, sending the Titan down onto the ground.

Slowly she walked towards him, looking down a short moment. Then she raised one of her giant feet, and simply started to trample on his face and upper body, the position where his nape was. Again, and again. Blood splashed through the entire alley, painting the walls and houses red. Then the female Titan finally did it, and hit his nape with one final stomp.

The female Titan turned around again, looking down onto Diana one more time. Her eyes shimmered greenly, like her own did when using her moon magic. Slowly they turned brown again.

Then something happened, what Diana did not expect. The female Titan slowly got down on one of her knees, still staring at Diana. It was like...she recognized her. 'That's impossible...how could a Titan know me?', Diana asked herself, and stared into the giant eyes of the Titan.

Suddenly, Diana felt two giant fingers of her at her jacket. She had completely forgotten her surroundings, she was lost within the eyes of the Titan, so she didn't see this coming. ‟The hell?!", she exclaimed in surprise, and she shortly felt fear growing inside her.

But, it wasn't necessary. The female Titan just pulled her back onto her feet. Then she let go of her jacket, and slowly stood up again. Her giant hands were clenched to fists. For a short moment the sun broke through the clouds, shining down onto the Titan's face, which looked down onto her. Diana swallowed hard for a moment. The facial features, the white hair, her stance now...

The short silence between human and Titan was forcefully destroyed, as Diana heard the sound of a steel wire, which was pulled back, together with a loud voice, calling her name. ‟Diana!", Irelia yelled above her.

Before Diana could react any further, she felt how the Ionian grabbed her around her stomach, pulling her into the air. They both hit one close by roof pretty hard, and Diana moaned in pain as she hit the shingles. The female Titan slowly turned around, following them with her eyes as they flew through the air.

‟You're alright, Diana?", Irelia asked her, her voice filled with worries. ‟And the hell is that? A female Titan?"

‟I'm fine..I'm fine..but..", Diana was interrupted as she heard the loud roaring of two other Titans which appeared at the end of the street. A ten meter class and a smaller one about seven meters. The female Titan slowly turned around from both of them, and started to walk. She raised one of her fists, like she was preparing herself for combat.

When she reached the end of the alley, she looked back one more time...then she started to engage both of the Titans at the same time, kicking and punching them.

‟The hell is that?! She's attacking other Titans?!", Irelia stated surprised, and watched the whole spectacle, unbelieving.

‟She did it before..she saved me before another Titan", Diana simply answered, and watched her too. She took on a stance, preparing for something...and then she just dashed at the bigger enemy, ramming him against or better nearly through an entire house. The smaller one was kicked away. The eyes of the female titan glowed green, just like a certain rune sword once did.

‟Look at her, Irelia..look at her...", Diana simply stated, her eyes widened. The movement, the dashing..

‟That can't be...that's impossible!", Irelia replied, as she understood what Diana wanted to tell her. ‟This can't be her! I've heard what happened to her from the other cadets! They said she was falling down, onto the street! Then she was never seen again!" Her voice was unbelieving on the one side, but on the other it somehow sounded shocked.

‟Have you ever seen a Titan with white hair? I haven't. Look at the left arm...it looks damaged. Titan's normally regenerate wounds...but this was there from the beginning", Diana answered her. Her voice slightly quivered.

‟But, that's...", Irelia started unbelieving, but her voice failed her.

‟Irelia..we both saw enough within the League...we have seen things, we never thought that they exist. And what she did with me..she saved me, she pulled me back onto my feet..I want to believe it, that this Titan..", Diana replied, before her voice failed her too. She wanted to believe it. She wanted to believe that there was a glimpse of hope. She clung onto it, like a drowning man to a plank.

'I will never give up again...', Diana thought and clenched her fists. She took a deep breath, calming down. 'Sorry for that. I...I just wasn't myself anymore.' She just was saved, and now she would take this chance and continue to live. They had something to do now.

‟Let's give it a try. We will lure her to the HQ building. If it's really her, then she will protect us from any harm", Diana simply explained to Irelia, and dropped both of the metal sheaths to the ground. ‟Do you have some spare gas left?"

‟Alright...alright. Let's try it", Irelia replied and shortly knocked against the gas cylinders. ‟Not much, but will be enough. Support squads only reached us once." Irelia took down the gas cylinder from her metal sheaths, and grabbed Diana's. Quickly she started to share the gas between them.

Suddenly, the heard a noise of steel wire and more boots which hit the roof of the house. ‟You two are fine?!", someone yelled at them. Diana and Irelia looked, where was shouting. It was Connie, who just let Armin down. Mikasa was with them too. ‟And the hell is that thing?! A female Titan?!"

All three of them looked at the rampaging Titan, who just killed another five meter one, slamming his face against a house.

‟A female one, yes. We never saw anything like that before", Irelia answered the question, while she finished the first gas cylinder and picked up the second one.

‟It's not hostile towards humans though", Diana added calmly. ‟I..have a theory about her, but we need to test it out. We just prepared ourselves. We wanted to lure her to the HQ building."

‟Two of these abnormal ones?", Armin asked confused. ‟We never heard about Titan's killing each other..and now there are two of them within this city?"

‟Two?", Irelia asked confused and looked over the three soldiers.

‟Yes. Just like you, Armin here had the same plan..with this one", Mikasa answered and pointed behind her with her sword. A fifteen meter class Titan was there, fighting against another Titan. Unlike others, he looked different too. He looked rather trained and muscular, with elongated ears. All of his teeth were visible. He roared loudly, as he stomped on the other Titan, killing him.

‟We should play our cards carefully now", Armin suddenly said. ‟We can use both of these Titans..but..maybe it's better if we don't lure both of them to HQ. The risk is they attack each other to our misfortune."

‟So, what do you suggest? This female one seemed to be very protective towards humans. She caught me alone in this alley, and killed another Titan to save me", Diana replied thoughtfully.

‟How much gas do you have left?", Armin simply asked them both.

‟Not that much. But, it will be enough for us to move around the city for a while. If everything goes to hell, we can use our magic to keep up slightly", Irelia answered him. Armin nodded shortly.

‟Alright. We will lure it a bit away from the HQ to another Titan infested area where it can rampage. You two lead the female one towards HQ. If this one is really so protective towards humans, this will help us", Armin explained the plan. They both nodded.

‟Raising the stakes huh?", Connie asked and rubbed his head.

‟It's the best shot we have. Let's do it...we don't have time to waste", Mikasa said calmly, and already started to run. ‟We see you later!" With that, she jumped from the roof.

‟Hey!", Connie shouted, and started to run as well, grabbing Armin in the motion. ‟Alright, let's make this gas count!" With that he and Armin jumped down as well.

Diana quickly equipped her metal sheaths back on her thighs, and checked if everything was sitting perfectly. ‟Alright, let's not waste anymore time."

‟I'll kill the Titans in our path. Just concentrate on the female Titan..she needs to follow us", Irelia explained and Diana nodded. With that both of them started running, Diana towards the Titan, which was just finished killing of one five meter class one. She looked around, like she searched for new enemies.

‟Hey, you! Follow us will you?!", Diana shouted loudly, to get her attention. And the Titan really looked over to her. She didn't seem to understand the words though. Diana turned around and started to run over the roofs, shooting her grapple-hooks to pass the street canyon.

She still felt rather exhausted, so she needed to be careful when using her Lunar Rush. She couldn't use it very often anymore. For a split second she looked over her shoulder..and the Titan really started to follow them.

'Riven...is that really you?'

* * *

**Author's Note 2**

This story is temporarily paused. I just need to get some distance to this story for a while. I started to write on Reborn Pt. 2 but every paragraph I wrote felt wrong, bad and simply not good (you can call it a writer's block). For now I will concentrate on something else.

There are also a few problems with the story. It's not about the storyline, it's more about the whole fighting scenes and so on. They start to get repetitive with time, and I just need to think about it. It's a problem I didn't think about when I started writing. I simply can't transfer the fast pacing of maneuver gear, the moves they do into a written form. It's getting boring with time to read and to write.

Yes, I still think this is a cool idea. But, I just need some time to think about it, change something maybe and so on. Thanks to everyone who had read this far.


End file.
